How to: visit password-protected websites without registering
We all know how annoying it is when we search Google for something and the result we are looking for leads to a password protected forum or site. You have to register to view content, but who likes doing that?
Fortunately there is a solution to save your time and email account from spam - pretending to be Googlebot. For those of you that don’t know, Googlebot is Google’s “spider” that crawls sites and indexes them for Google’s search results. More about Googlebot. The owner of a password protected site also wants their site to be on Google, so they make a separate account on their site for Googlebot.
We can use this small security hole and visit a website pretending to be Googlebot. This way you are automatically logged into the site or forum and don’t need to enter any password or login info. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Here’s how:
Step 1. If you’re not using it already, get Firefox! It’s a lot better than Internet Explorer and here’s why.
Step 2. Download and install the User Agent Switcher plugin for Firefox.
Step 3. Restart Firefox to complete the installation and go to Tools -> User Agent Switcher -> Options -> Options. In the window that opens, select the User Agents tab and press Add.
Step 4. Add a new user agent. Write Googlebot for the description and Googlebot/2.1+(+http://www.google.com/bot.html)” in the User Agent box as shown above. Press OK and you’re good to go!
Now you can visit most password protected sites and forums that appear on Google’s search results. Here are a few to try:
1) http://www.portaliz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17780
This post is based on an article by A Genius Blog.
wisher said
am August 27 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Another (worst) solution may be BugMeNot http://www.bugmenot.com/
Eerik said
am August 27 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Yes, bugmenot.com is good for sites that don’t allow Googlebot into password-protected areas, but where Googlebot is allowed, the above tutorial is a faster way.
username said
am August 27 2008 @ 8:40 pm
Or just use mailinator for your email address.
rick said
am August 27 2008 @ 10:54 pm
Brilliant trick. I’ll have to try it.
Dave said
am September 2 2008 @ 6:48 pm
Hey I tried this site http://radarr.kiev.ua/forums/index.php?showtopic=94390
It did’nt work, any suggestions???
Shivenduu said
am September 3 2008 @ 9:08 am
Hey Guys Simply Press Del Key Three Times
And Done
Shivenduu’s last blog post..Hands-On: Nokia N96, N85 and N79
techniqueal t. said
am October 13 2008 @ 3:45 pm
wow, this is brilliant! i wasn’t aware this was possible. iL definitely try this. thanks for sharing ^_^
techniqueal t.´s last blog post..How To Create Animated Handwritten Signatures
trebinje said
am December 5 2008 @ 7:08 pm
Great tip.I will try this.
George The Computer Technician said
am December 15 2008 @ 7:22 pm
Nice one! I didn’t know about it and will give it a try.
Do you by any chance know if this works with Experts Exchange? I used to check Google cash to read the posts but now it doesn’t works - the answers are now protected.