MVP's please read! Problems with "/_vti_bin/shtml.exe"

[Viken Karaguesian]

Hello everyone,

I know there's no way to completely prevent SPAM from coming into a
Frontpage Guestbook, but one method I use to reduce the spam is to
occasionally rename the guest book to a different file name. This works
for several weeks to several months until someone comes across the file
name, then the guest book starts getting spam. When it becomes too
heavy to tolerate, I change the guestbook file name again.

I recently change my webhost and now they allow me to see real-time
access logs. In my logs, I repeatedly see this:

/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/guest___book.htm

OK. I can deduce that this has to do with the FrontPage Extensions
method of posting an entry to the GuestBook. Also, when I look in the
_vti_bin directory, I don't see the shtml.exe file, so it seems like
it's created on the server side.

HOWEVER, I repeatedly see this entry for ALL the PAST variations of the
guest book file names also!! So, this tells me that the spam bots are
still repeatedly trying to spam my old guestbooks, even though I've
removed them from the server and they no longer exist anywhere in the
website. These repeated SPAM attempts are skewing my stat logs, making
it seem like there's more traffic than there really is.

Can anyone tell me how to remedy this problem?

Thanks,

Viken K.
http://www.vikenk.com

 

[Steve Easton]

The reason you don't see the shtml.exe is because it and all of the extension files located
in a "virtual directory" on the server.
They are not actually present within your web.

The bots "Can Not" read anything in the _vti folders. Any folder beginning with _
is not accessible from "outside" the web.

About the only way to prevent guest book spam is to remove the guestbook.


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

 

[Viken Karaguesian]

Hi Steve,

The bots "Can Not" read anything in the _vti folders. Any folder beginning with _
is not accessible from "outside" the web.

About the only way to prevent guest book spam is to remove the guestbook.

I understand that I cannot prevent the spam, but why are my old
guestbook files getting repeated action? That's what I'd like to
solve/understand. I've changed the file name several times and I still
see these in my current log file:

/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/guest___book.htm
/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/guest__book.htm
/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/guest_book.htm
/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/guestbook.htm
/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/guest___book1.htm

None of these files exist anymore! They've been replaced by a new guest
book file name and deleted from my website. Every time that those files
get a hit, it registers as a visit in my stats. I get so many of them
that it's skewing my stat logs.

 

[Steve Easton]

You see the entries because the spam bots are still looking for the
old file names..
If you have error logs, check them and you should see
"not found" errors for them.


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

 

[Windsun]

In most stat programs you can tell it to ignore certain files and/or
directories.

You pretty much have to do that with any FP site that has themes, and before
I switched to EW I also had all the _ folders of all types blocked from
showing stats. Most of those directories get accessed every time a page is
pulled up, so the stats are meaningless.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

You see the entries because the spam bots are still looking for the
old file names..
If you have error logs, check them and you should see
"not found" errors for them.


--
Steve Easton
Microsoft MVP FrontPage
FP Cleaner
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm
Hit Me FP
http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/HitMeFP.htm

 

[Viken Karaguesian]

In most stat programs you can tell it to ignore certain files and/or
directories.

Thanks for the tip. My new host provides AWStats. I think I saw an line
in the config file that allows me to ignore certain files/folders. I'll
give that a try.