Jim,
Would you happen to know of a way to keep AWStates from recording my visits to my site?
Thanks,
Roger
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Hi Roger,
Sure do
Your awstats conf file will have a section called SkipHosts.
The line will look like:
SkipHosts=""
Change it to:
SkipHosts="your ip address"
To find your IP address, simply visit Whats My IP
That will do the trick!
Enjoy.
Jim,
Will that work for dial-up too?
ht tp: //abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2866448
Thanks,
Roger
If you want to block an IP address for dialup as well as a Cable Modem, then it will be a little more tricky.
When you connect to the internet using Dial-up, you are given an IP address that is from a pool of addresses. Likely, it will not be the same.
This can also happen for Cable and DSL unless you have requested a static IP address.
I believe that there is also a host option you can use. When you connect to the internet, say Verizon Dial-up, your host will look something like 553844-Ths88K.Verizon.com
You can block the Verzion.com part, but you’ll also block other dial up users.
Another, better option, is to tell Awstats to block a user agent from being recorded in the log files.
But first – tell me the browser you are using?
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
I use ther latest FireFox Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.8.0.9) Gecko/20061206 Firefox/1.5.0.9) but I have IE 6.02 ready to use as a back-up.
Thanks,
Roger
OK, to change the useragent in Firefox, do the following:
1- visit auditmypc.com/anonymous-surfing.asp and record the user agent.
2- To change the User Agent in firefox, simply type ‘about:config’ (without quotes) into the address bar of FireFox (like you would any website address).
In the window that appears, right click on the white space and select NEW, STRING
Enter the preference name ‘general.useragent.override’, without quotes.
Next, enter the new User Agent you would like to be, you could make it anything, say:
Mozilla/5.0r
Now, revisit auditmypc.com/anonymous-surfing.asp and look at the user agent and you should notice the change.
Now, in AWstats, simply set the SkipUserAgents="" to
SkipUserAgents="Mozilla/5.0r"
Now, whenever you visit your site, your activity will be recorded, but NOT factored into the statistics, such as visitors, hits, pages, etc. This is because there is no other Mozilla/5.0r (r for roger) except your browser and we are excluding that user agent.
If you are using my Webmaster Tool, you can also enter Mozilla/5.0r (or whatever you’re using as an agent) into the user agent setting located on the Settings Tab and prevent the tool’s activity from being factored into stats as well.
Oh, what’s that! Why does that site look different?
Many bad website owners cloak their site and diliver content to Google, MSN and Yahoo that is different than what they give you! Why? The can add tons of content that doesn’t make any sense to search engine robots, but will get them ranked high and still deliver a page to humans that looks great and is easy to read.
With cloaking, a competitor could rank very well and you’ll spend forever trying to figure out why
Jim,
Blue Host can’t find a file called SkipUserAgents="". Do you have another name or do I add a file and call it SkipUserAgents=""?
Thanks,
Roger
Here is a section from the awstats.model.conf file from the latest version of Awstats, which is 6.6
—————————-
# Do not include access from clients with a user agent that match following
# criteria. If you want to exclude a robot, you should update the robots.pm
# file instead of this parameter.
# The opposite parameter of "SkipUserAgents" is "OnlyUserAgents".
# Note: Use space between each value. This parameter is not case sensitive.
# Note: You can use regular expression values writing value with REGEX[value].
# Change : Effective for new updates only
# Example: "konqueror REGEX[ua_test_vd.d]"
# Default: ""
#
SkipUserAgents=""
—————————
Can you get them to send you a copy of your config file? I’m not sure what they call it, but it may be located in their awstatsawstats-6.6wwwrootcgi-bin and called something like awstats.rogerssite.conf.
If not, what version of Awstats are they using?
Regards,
Jim.
I received your PM and the awstats config file they provided you is old, but does have the option to block a useragent. Here is the section from the default awstats.model.conf file for their version.
It’s at line 473 and looks just like this:
# Do not include access from clients with a user agent that match following
# criteria. If you want to exclude a robot, you should update the robots.pm
# file instead of this parameter.
# The opposite parameter of "SkipUserAgents" is "OnlyUserAgents".
# Note: Use space between each value. This parameter is not case sensitive.
# Note: You can use regular expression values writing value with REGEX[value].
# Change : Effective for new updates only
# Example: "konqueror REGEX[ua_test_vd.d]"
# Default: ""
#
SkipUserAgents=""
If they don’t see that at or near line 473, then a tech may have deleted it at some point.
They can add the above and it should work just fine – don’t forget to tell them what your user agent will be (don’t post it here).
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
I can edit my awastats conf. file. Are you saying that I can just go in and edit the awastats file by adding anywhere reasonable (in the area of the other skip conditions) by typing " SkipUserAgents="x" " Where x is what I used when I typed "about:config" into the Firefox address bar, then right clicked on any one of the listings created below chose new, then String and what I typed in there? It seems too simple to be true. Do I need to add the #s too. I wouldn’t think so.
Thanks,
Roger
Hi Roger,
Yup – It should be that simple. I have not used the useragent section before, but that is how I would do it. Firfox will send the useragent string, AWstats will ignore that useragent string.
Let me know how this works out for you!
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
Firefox released a new version so I used SkipUserAgents="Firefox/1.5.0.10" in the tmp/awstasts/awstats.actualcures dotcom.conf file and changed the permissions to 400 like Bluehost advised. I tested it and every IP I used while accessing my site showed up in my awstats. Also, in asking Bluehost about the problem I was asked, "Are you trying to not track people running Firefox 1.5.0.10?" Does your method block my visits to my site and also everyone using Firefox 1.5.0.10? I hope not.
Thanks,
Roger
Hi Roger,
Their question is valid.
You don’t want to name your useragent the same as the default, that would defeat the purpose. In a few examples back, I appended an r to the end to set you apart from all the other browsers.
Here is what we are doing. We want to make your browser ID unique, but not so unique that websites will not understand you’re using Firefox.
[let me expound here a minute: if we named your browser "FireDance", then some websites might not know what type of browser you are using and not deliver content correctly]
So, for now (testing), let’s call it set the string to
Mozilla/5.0r
Now, in AWstats, simply set the
SkipUserAgents="Mozilla/5.0r"
You will also need to change your browser agent in firefox as in my example a few posts back to the same user agent as well.
Now – what we have done is made your browser unique so that no one else will have the same browser type, but you’ll still be able to surf the web.
By doing this, you have told awstats to NOT COUNT any browser that has a user agent of Mozilla/5.0r, which is only you
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
Does, "You don’t want to name your useragent the same as the default…" mean You don’t want to give your broswer a useragent (New , string, useragent.override, type something in for a useragent) that’s the same as the (default) version of the browser ?
And that’s assuming that using the useragent.override function in the browser (about:config, New, String, choose a name) is what one uses to change the useragent of their browser.
So, "You don’t want to name your useragent the same as the default, that would defeat the purpose." means – your browser ID is the useragent of your browser, which is the version of your browser, which is the default version of your browser that other browsers use to decide how to display their site on your browser. Browsers make use of whatever information they can get from another browsers’s useragent, whereas stats cruncher websites are purposely designed to need more specific information or else stats crunchers will skip counting a site. The trick is to have your user agent contain a lot of info for other webbrowsers to make use of but misinformative for stats crunchers by simply adding miscellaneous information to the end of the useragent (even a single letter). If instead you have the useragent = to the browser version, then the stats crunchers can "see" your useragent which is what you’re trying to avoid.
So I guess what you’re saying is to use that useragent.override function and enter "Firefox/1.5.0.10r" and in skipuseragent = "x" for x again use "Firefox/1.5.0.10r" in the awstats.yourwebsite.com.conf file. at my webhost.
Roger
Jim,
You were talking about looking for general.useragent.override in about:config.
It doesn’t appear to be there until one uses New, String and types general.useragent.override , hits OK and then types in a new useragent and then there’s three entries. Any thoughts?
Roger
Jim,
I was in this file at my web host and saw
# Default: ""
#
SiteDomain="actualcures dotcom"
# Put here all other possible domain names, addresses or virtual host aliases
# someone can use to access your site. Try to keep only the minimum number
Should I change my site name to www.actualcures dotcom in this file?
Roger
Right, If you manually name your browser’s useragent (=Browser ID) the same what it defaults to, there is no point, just leave it alone.
Each browser reads a webpage a little different (one day, they will all handle code the same – we hope). So, many web sites read the useragent string that is passed to it from the browser and deliver content (commands) based on what type of browser you are using.
No, browsers don’t talk to one another, it’s the browser and web site that talk.
Yes, the trick is to get a useragent setting that let’s you be unique yet will let websites still see that you are using Firefox (or IE, Opera, etc) so that they can format their content correctly.
Many sites will perform this function:
Does the useragent contain the string "Firefox"? If so, then….
Does the useragent contain the string "Explorer"? If so, then ….
Based on the answer, it will then deliver content. So,
If we use Firefox/1.5.0.10r, then the site would find ‘Firefox" and all is well.
However, if we use "Roger/1.5.0" as the useragent, then Firefox would never be found, right?
That’s right, use that and let’s see how it works out.
That’s right, it does not exist until you create one. Until then, it just goes with it’s default version.
Yes – make that change.
Also, look for HostAliases=, do you see that? – this can be an area for misread stats for many people! Can also be a gem if you notice it when buying a site
Let me explain.
Awstats will record all traffic to whatever you set in this variable (HostAliases=). So, if HostAliases= is set to actualcures dotcom but Roger promotes www.actualcures dotcom, awstats will only show visitors for actualcures dotcom
Say that www.actualcures dotcom is receiving 1000 visitors a day and actualcures dotcom receives 100 visitors a day. Your awstats will only show that your site gets 100 visitors per day if the HostAliases= "actualcures dotcom"
So.. you decide to sell your site. You don’t have many visitors, so you’re not going to get that much for it, but the Smart buyer will notice that you are not recording true traffic and end up buying your site for a song!
But, that would not happen to you Roger, because:
1) You have your htaccess redirecting traffic from actualcures dotcom to www.actualcures dotcom
2) In your html code, you now use Absolute URL’s with www.actualcures dotcom
See how those earlier items, such as www and no-www, redirects and absolute vs. relative urls come into play
Here is what you should use for HostAliases:
HostAliases="www.actualcures dotcom actualcures dotcom"
Regards,
Jim.
Thanks Again
Jim,
Adding a single letter to my browser useragent and changing my permissions at my webhost to 444 works like a gem at stopping awstats from counting my visits to my site. (Now I’ll be able to find out how much work my site really needs.) What a relief.
Thanks Jim,
Roger
I guess I’ll have to live without Yahoo – just finding that Yahoo still won’t come up as it normally does, asking me to download Firefox 1.5. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Roger
Jim,
Can’t use my webhost either. Do you think I have to use the "core" portion of my browser as the useragent and add a letter – Mozill/5.0r? Why wouldn’t Firefox1.5….r work?
Roger
My user agent says:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Perhaps adding this string and modifying it a bit, say
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; ;Roger; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Try this and see if that works, there is a ‘Roger’ string in it which should be unique enough for awstats and yet basic enough to allow sites to deliver content for your system.
I’m not sure why one and one would not work – it should.
When we are done and everything is working, remind me to tell you how to change user agent using plugins. I like to know how to do it manually, but there are plugins for this.
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
Went to your post 02-13-2007, 02:20 PM where you advised for Firefox changing the useragent using New, String, typing general.useragent.overide, OK, then typinging Mozilla/5.0r. The first time I did that I ran into a problem where I couldn’t open the FTP Uploading part of my webhost. Thought I had a virus, etc, etc. Well I’m back there again. I changed the useragent to Mozilla/5.0r and again I can’t upload files at my webhost (becuase Java won’t load) (can’t get yahoo, can’t open up links on another site…) Fortunately this time I know the cause is this useragent change. And I made sure the useragent change to Mozilla/5.0r occured using your site (auditmypc.com/free-spyware-removal.asp). I understand the goal is to come up with a minor useragent change that all websites will ignore except for awstats, but I have yet to see the Holy Grail useragent.
Thanks,
Roger
Jim,
I changed the useragent to Firefox/1.5.0.10 to get my Firefox browser fully functional and FTP nor Yahoo would comeup. I reloaded firefox 1.5.0.7 in an effort to clear out my changes and that didn’t work. I looked in about:config and there’s the general useragent override command. I changed it from 1.5.0.10 to .7 and that didn’t help. I tried to delete it but that didn’t work. Am I going to have to completely remove Firefox from my computer and down load it again? Right now this problem has me locked out of Java (which would include the Java used on your site),which prevents me from making changes to my website.
Roger
Jim,
How do I change all the Firefox configuration settings to the original settings?
Roger
Hi Roger,
in about:config, right click on the string and choose reset.
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
Did you find a useragent that would be seen by Java and websites but not by awstats? That "Mozilla/5.0r" just doesn’t work?
Thanks,
Roger
Jim,
I changed the useragent to "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.8.0.7) Gecko/20060909 Firefox/1.5.0.7 and added r. Yahoo and Java took it. This useragent is so long. Is it likely awstats will ignore it? …Awstats probably will stop comparing after the first x number of characters which is probably less than the length of this string.
Thanks,
Roger
Try just ‘Firefox/1.5.0.7 (Rog)’ and see what happens.
If I had time, I would run a test and tell your exactly what to do, but time is something I do not have right now.
Regards,
Jim.
Jim,
I have not found any sources that agree that one can use the useragent or anything else to stop awstas from counting my dial-up visits to my site without causing other problems.
From my web host,
"Modifying the user agent in Firefox isn’t going to be a very good solution for this at all actually as it causes far more problems for you than it solves. I would recommend using google.com/analytics/ because you can exclude your own IP from the reports."
Of course with dial-up his google solution doesn’t work.
In another letter my web host wrote me, "Unfortunitly, since you are on dail-up, there is no way for our servers to distinquish from your IP and the IP of another person on dail-up. It might be possible if it were a fixed, but since it is completly dynamic everytime you log in, there isn’t much we can do."
I also went to Yahoo answers and asked the question twice and Yahoo keeps removing the question.
I also went to sourceforge.com (awstats home) and found only
" # FAQ-COM140 : HOW CAN I EXCLUDE MY IP ADDRESS (OR WHOLE SUBNET MASK) FROM STATS ?
PROBLEM:
I don’t want to see my IP address in the awstats or I want to exclude counting visits from a whole subnet.
SOLUTION:
You must edit the config file to change the SkipHosts parameter.
For example, to exclude:
# your own IP address 123.123.123.123, use SkipHosts="123.123.123.123"
# the whole subnet 123.123.123.xxx, use SkipHosts="REGEX[^123.123.123.]"
# all sub hosts xxx.myintranet.com, use SkipHosts="REGEX[.myintranet.com$]" (This one works only if DNS lookup is already done in your log file)."
Of course this information from sourceforge is not for dial-up becuase the IP changes with dial-up.
This forum and my questiion that originated this discussion (Do no record my PC) shows up in Google searches. Please consider providing the solutiuon for us. If you agree there is no solution then please reduce this thread to one response – there is no way at this time to stop awstats from counting dial-up and others dynamic ip users from being counted when visiting their own site. Attempts thus far to do so have only created problems.
Becuase there is no solution and because there are statements in this thread that there is a solution ("Sure do") and statements of mistaken success ("Works like a gem." ) and becuase it is the most most viewed question (494) this thread can only serve to cause people problems, therefore please consider removing this thread or reducing it to – there is no way at this time to stop awstats from counting dial-up and others dynamic ip users from being counted when visiting their own site. Attempts thus far to do so have only created problems.
Roger
Hello Roger,
Well worded post and I sense your frustration.
I firmly believe there is a solution and that we have covered it.
I will, when I get some time, write a detailed step-by-step on how to do this.
Awstats did not create the ability to exclude the user agent just for the fun of it and I am sure it works.
So, once I get a little free time, I’ll do the whole process myself (perhaps a video of it) and post back.
We do not want people to think this can’t be done just because it didn’t work for you, for what you are doing may not be 100% accurate – we’ll find out.
I’ll write back.
Best regards,
Jim.
Jim,
I appreciate the effort but frankly all we need to know is how to write the useragent, the formula – we know the useragent + a single letter doesn’t work, but I’m encouraged by your conviction. I think I speak for all of us at the botom of website popularity when I say – It’s a drag that our numbers are so low but they could at least be fairly accurate so we know just how bad they really are so we can take appropriate or inappropriate action.
Look forward to hearing from you Jim,
Roger
Jim,
You wrote, "Try just ‘Firefox/1.5.0.7 (Rog)’ and see what happens." and later wrote, "I firmly believe there is a solution and that we have covered it." I tried the paranthesis method and it didn’t work.
We’re getting close to a month now and a whole lot of people are waiting for the answer. Could you squeeze us in and write us the answer?
Thanks,
Roger
Time – Where does it go? Making free applications, managing sites, family, health, work and free support just seems to make time fly
I have set up a website called IP Movies that I’ll let the bots spider for a day or so, then use this to test awstats useragent feature.
I’ll post the results once I have completed the test.
Feel free to visit the site I have set up from different locations – it will help in my testing.
Regards,
Jim.
The test is complete and it is as I expected – there is no problem using the useragent to exclude your browser.
This time, I used proxo (rather than modify Firefox – either way works) and made my user agent:
Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+en-US;+rv:1.8.0.8;+RogerRoger)+Gecko/20061025+Firefox/1.5.0.8
I visited ipmovies.info about 20 times.
I then changed my user agent to:
Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+en-US;+rv:1.8.0.8)+Gecko/20061025+Firefox/1.5.0.8
and again visited ipmovies.info about 20 times.
I then ran awstats and it showed 40 page views and 1 unique visitor.
I then edited the awstats.conf file, and changed SkipUserAgents="" to:
SkipUserAgents="Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+en-US;+rv:1.8.0.8;+RogerRoger)+Gecko/20061025+Firefox/1.5.0.8"
I then deleted my awstats db that was created from the first run (don’t do this unless you have a backup!) and reran awstats.
The result was 20 page views and 1 unique visitor.
So, it works just fine. I understand the frustration you must have, with your ISP telling you it can’t be done, not finding anything on Yahoo answers or others saying no, but they are all mistaken.
It can, and just was done without problems! It works like a charm and should not cause any problems.
Download Proxo, install it on your pc and let me know when you have it installed. I’ll walk you through getting it set up and we’ll use that to change your user agent rather than modify firefox. This way, you can do exactly what I did.
By the way – have you received my first bill
Best regards,
Jim.
Jim,
Used the general.useragent.override of Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+en-US;+rv:1.8.0.8;+RogerRoger)+Gecko/20061025+Firefox/1.5.0.8
in my Firefox browser.
And I added the command SkipUserAgents="Mozilla/5.0+(Windows;+U;+Windows+NT+5.1;+en-US;+rv:1.8.0.8;+RogerRoger)+Gecko/20061025+Firefox/1.5.0.8"
to my HTaccess file at my web host. (Permission numbers have to be one way to add the command and another way after the command is added. (Call your webhost for details))
And it appears to have worked. The one ip number that did showed up in awstats (which I was on when I was visiting my own site) is likely not a problem but actually the same IP number showed up during my test as before my test. It’s not hard to believe since my IP numbers are often very close.
Also, bringing up pages and downloading in general on my dial-up connection is unexpectedly faster. There is no doubt the clockwize flashing of the blue points of Java starting up is at minimum twice as fast. Sometimes google searches come up so fast it’s no different than broadband.
Thanks for the info,
Roger
I am glad it worked for you and anyone reading this thread should now have an excellent understanding of how to prevent recording traffic from your own PC in awstats – there is always a way, it’s just finding it that is hard
Can you explain more about the permission numbers you mentioned above?
Best regards,
Jim.
Jim,
I will, but is there any security issues my webhost would be worried about?
Roger
Jim,
Recently I changed from dial up to DSL. Sources say only about 10-12% have dial up now.
For your readers, here’sw how I exclude my visits to my site showing up in my awstats statistics.
With dial up you always have the same ip address.
With DSL it will change in 2 ways
1) 95% of the time when you pull the line carring DSL from the wall outlet or whatever sort of box you have it connected to
2) It will be changed from time to time by DSL provider without notice, so I often use whatismyip.com on my desktop and check nearly daily to see if my ip has changed. If it has I add the new ip to a certain list.
At Bluehost (my webhost for my site) up until just this week to add the new ip you would go to your tmp/mysite.conf file and look for the "skiphosts="…" " line, and add the new ip with a space separating the old IP and the new IP, then go into permissions and change it to the read only (444) otherwise the change wouldn’t hold.
Things have changed and now from the file manager you choose Home Directory, then go to tmp, then awstats, then down at the bottom you’ll see custom.txt. This file is blank and you add only the line SkipHosts="what ever the IP addres is" For example SkipHosts="1.5.32.77" if a new ip has to be added you’ll have skipHosts="1.5.32.77 one space here 25.3.122.9". You probably can take the old IP address out.
Thanks Jim,
Roger