From 5.2.2 to 6.04 and now no content filtering... :(

[shb]

Hello all... thanks for the software and great support :)

Take a look at this... from 13 months ago... http://forums.qbik.com/viewtopic.php?t=1855

Well, everything HAD been working beautifully since then. Until the upgrade to 6.04.

Just last week I started getting errors and instability in my Wingate 5.2.2 server. It would only run for 5-10 minutes, then would hang. I suspect the fairly constant level of inbound unsolicited traffic got to be a bit too much for poor old WG 5.2.2 to handle. Anyway, until then, INTERQUICK was my content filter: that is "InterQuick for Wingate". To solve these very recent instability problems, earlier today I upgraded to Wingate 6.04 and, so far, it looks good for stability. The update was smooth and easy.

Only problem is that now I'm not able to get my old friend, IQ-for-Wingate, to process HTTP requests anymore. It is a big problem. PureSight and GateFilter just don't cut it for me. And of course other services besides IQblock were all working fine too: IQFilter, IQFetch, IQStore and IQSchedule..

Ah, InterQuick, <sigh-with-nostalgia>. It is a great little app !
It is simple, fast, and effective. Read my lips: it can ban webpages based on keyword lists. This isn't rocket science: lots of apps do it like that. It is also the way that most of the cheap "hardware-appliance-type" routers do it. (i.e. keywords IN THE CONTENT...) Of course banned/approved lists are needed too, but most of the work is done via the keywords.

I'm pleading with you at Qbik: InterQuick 2.1.2.0 (IQ for Wingate), is there any way that you can you make it work again ?. It seems to be something fairly minor anyway. It still fires up ok, and Wingate still passes the request across to it... But then the log file shows:

06/12/05 14:59:33 Service started successfully
06/12/05 15:00:58 192.168.0.6 Guest 0000000006 Created:
06/12/05 15:00:58 Error: Caught unknown exception in CTCPServiceSocketCallback()
06/12/05 15:02:15 192.168.0.6 Guest 0000000007 Created:
06/12/05 15:02:15 Error: Caught unknown exception in CTCPServiceSocketCallback()
06/12/05 15:02:41 Service stopped
06/12/05 15:07:14 Configuration changed

Perhaps there is a known way to configure it so that it works ??
As it did work fine as recently as ver 5.2.2, perhaps just a simple patch would make it work again in ver 6.05 ?

Please help, thanks in advance, .. SHB .

[ChrisH]

SHB,

I'm assuming you're not aware that one can use WG itself to block sites by keyword using the WWW proxy service. Works well other than you have to come up with the keyword list on your own as per a hardware router. Using the WRS service for client connections you can block applications like ICQ from accessing the Net. Sorry, if I am telling you something you already know...
For some people IQ was, and still is, a nice simple software package that worked well for them so I suppose it would be nice for it to be compatible with Ver 6. But I suspect Qbik has chosen another path to spend their time and energy on in terms of a filtering product.

[shb]

ChrisH wrote:

one can use WG itself to block sites by keyword using the WWW proxy service

Really ? How do I do that ? That would be fantastic as I already have a keyword list (courtesy of IQ) in a txt file :)

Also:

WRS service for client connections you can block applications like ICQ from accessing the Net

Is that only possible using the WG-client app ?
Thank you very much for your reply !!. I'm learning all the time.

regards, SHB

[ChrisH]

Check this link out in the Qbik knowledgebase The WG help file also is a good resource. However, it will be not be a real simple task (AFAIK) to get your IQ list into WG. If it is a huge list you may try to find a way to do some type of mass registry edit, otherwise it's a manual entry one at a time.

Is that only possible using the WG-client app ?

Yes.

[shb]

I read the link.... and, ChrisH, I 'm sorry to say that you are mistaken. :(

There is no functionality to block sites based on "keywords IN THE CONTENT of the site". What that KB-article describes is how to block sites based on a string within the URL of the site. That is hugely different.

Therefore I re-state: it seems that there is currently no way to block sites based on words that appear in the content of the site itself....
That functionality *DID* exist as recently as ver 5.2.2 by using InterQuick. It was functionality that I relied on. But it seems that now, with ver 6, that functionlaity appears to be gone.

Could anyone from QBik please confirm. And explain any suggested approach for work-around ?

Thanks in advance, SHB

[Nev]

Hi SHB,

Not from Qbik but...

Could this be useful, Qbik's content plugin to you? http://www.wingate.com/features-puresigh7t.php

Can't help any further as I haven't used it myself but hope it helps out!

[MattP]

Hi SHB,

We had to stop supporting InterQuick when we terminated our agreement with Deerfield.

PureSight is a content filter that currently filters out sex and gambling sites based on the percentage chance of a web page containing restricted content. You can set the threshold with a slider.

The next version PureSight is in the pipeline which will offer many more categories and more efficient filtering, as well as a white and black list that you can configure yourself. Unfortunately we don't have a firm release date for that yet.

[ChrisH]

SHB,

Sorry! Of course you are absolutely right. WG itself does not do content filtering. I seemed to have glossed over the "Content" aspect of your post. It's funny how when it's pointed out that how obvious it is.

[shb]

Thanks all for your suggestions and help...

MattP wrote about the black and white lists...

This would only be part of the solution.. Really, without knowing the URL at all, I just want to ensure that any site that contains the word "xxxx" within its html content is blocked.

We all know and understand that the PureSight plugin has false positives and also misses a whole bunch of porn sites. The black/white lists let you address those specific sites AFTER-THE-EVENT. Better than nothing.. but the simply using word-lists seems to block everything I need blocked (and thats without using any AI engines).

[kgoodknecht]

Thanks all for your suggestions and help...

MattP wrote about the black and white lists...

This would only be part of the solution.. Really, without knowing the URL at all, I just want to ensure that any site that contains the word "xxxx" within its html content is blocked.

We all know and understand that the PureSight plugin has false positives and also misses a whole bunch of porn sites. The black/white lists let you address those specific sites AFTER-THE-EVENT. Better than nothing.. but the simply using word-lists seems to block everything I need blocked (and thats without using any AI engines).

I still use Interquick on Wingate6.04, install it as a cascaded proxy instead of a plugin.