DNSKong

[Ralph]

I have been using eDexter along with a Host file , Proxo and IESpyad restricted sites for quite some time . I felt web browsing couldn't get any better . Today Pyrenean posted a DNSKong 1.42 beta to replace eDexter . http://pyrenean.com/betatest/beta.htm which works without a large Hosts file . I have it up and running and it seems just great . Speed is about the same but the ad blocking is definitely better . However , I miss the dogbone icon .

[Shea]

Thanx for sharing Ralph . I'm gonna try i right now and see what I think. Do you still have the hosts file in place or none at all?

[Ralph]

Shea , I deleted my HpGuru Host file . The DNSKong has a built in , abbreviated Host file of only 32Kb which I am using for starters as I learn how to use it .

[traviscn]

has anyone tried the new edexter 1.42 beta available on the same page?

[Ralph]

Neat new Avitar Shea !

[Shea]

Haha thanx! I forget where I got it, but it was titled Computer on Caffine.

[Oddysey]

Quote:Haha thanx! I forget where I got it, but it was titled Computer on Cocaine.

F1xored!

[xartica]

Howdy (yeah, I'm bumping a 5 year old thread)( 'cuz I USED THE SEARCH rather than starting a new thread)

I'm using DNSKong v1.4.3, which isn't the current version.
The newer version doesn't suit me b/c it entirely lacks a UI. I don't understand (or can't respect) why, but the author elected to squeeze the app down to a 20Kb executable.

My "Named.txt" file contains 153,000+ entries.
Through the years, as the number of patterns in my blocklists grew, Proxo began "bogging"... so I looked for other options & began using DNSKong along with proxo.

I was amazed to find so few DNSKong references when I searched the prxbx.com forum just now. Although proxo is wonderful, DNSKong (with windows native DNS client service disabled) provides the additional benefit, additional PROTECTION, of blocking undesired connections BEYOND the scope of an HTTP proxy.

The current DNSKong version "sorta" handles wildcard/regexp patterns
http://www.pyrenean.com
but I just use it for patterns representing "between the dots" matching of canonical hostnames, or domains, or entire TLDs. In one of the threads I read here tonight, someone asked "how can I block access to any/all .cn domains?" Well, using DNSKong, a line placed in its "named.txt" (blocklist)
cn
does the job. Just like that. Just that easily.
Later, if you care to whitelist selected .cn sites, you can place entries for them in DNSKong's separate "pass.txt" (whitelist) file.

[whenever]

(May. 24, 2009 06:52 AM)xartica Wrote:  The newer version doesn't suit me b/c it entirely lacks a UI. I don't understand (or can't respect) why, but the author elected to squeeze the app down to a 20Kb executable.

From the Readme_release_2.txt:

Quote:A significant portion of this reduction came about by removing
all traces of a GUI windows interface. Other things such as code
reorganization and the removal of Microsoft's Visual Studio MFC
code also made significant reductions in overall space reduction.
In fact, the new code base for both edexter and dnskong have at
long last made it possible for both programs compilable and
capable of operating on Windows as-well-as Linux and BSD.

(May. 24, 2009 06:52 AM)xartica Wrote:  In one of the threads I read here tonight, someone asked "how can I block access to any/all .cn domains?" Well, using DNSKong, a line placed in its "named.txt" (blocklist)
cn
does the job. Just like that. Just that easily.

Will that block cnn.com too? \.cn$ might be better.

[xartica]

In the context of DNSKong's "Named.txt" blocklist, a line containing the 2-char pattern "cn" would block, for instance:

happyslimgood.cn
ns1.cn.somesite.com

and would NOT match:

acnefix.com
cosmic.net
ebay.com/some_path_with_cn_substring_match

It performs exact "between the dots" matching against the hostname portion of a requested URL

The newer version also accomodates limited regex within patterns.

Quote:A significant portion of this reduction...
...and capable of operating on Windows as-well-as Linux and BSD.

Yes, thank you, I've read that. I've also repeatedly corresponded with the author, begging him to reconsider his choice to discontinue development of a version which contains a UI. He indicated that the intended, or expected, audience for the app was corporate network admins, not laypeople... then typed a long aside, blathering about his pet 'fastflux botnet detection' algorithm coded into the newer version... and seemed unsympathetic toward my suggestion that distributing a more user-friendly version, to a larger userbase, would provide "a greater good".

[whenever]

(May. 24, 2009 06:01 PM)xartica Wrote:  It performs exact "between the dots" matching against the hostname portion of a requested URL

The newer version also accomodates limited regex within patterns.

I tried the latest pyrlite.22.03.2009.zip version and the cn does block cnn.com.

[43unite]

Pyrenean Wrote:the new code base for both edexter and dnskong have at
long last made it possible for both programs compilable and
capable of operating on Windows as-well-as Linux and BSD.

Source code for these programs is not available nor is it for
sale. Those wanting to use the software on other than Microsoft
platforms must contact Pyrenean.

Sorry, this is not an open source project.

[xartica]

@ whenever
Of course it does. You read the docs in the distro, right?

source: Howto_regular_expressions.txt (pyrlite.22.03.2009.zip)

Quote: The lite version of Dnskong uses regular expressions for filter
rules. Regular expressions offer an advanced wildcard matching
method in order to reduce the number of rules needed when using
full string matching.

This release contains several filter files strictly for the
purposes of examples. You can find these files, named.txt,
blockeddns.txt and pass.txt, located in the filters folder of
this distribution. The included named.txt will not satisfy the
filtering requirements of anyone and may, in fact, unwittingly
filter sites that need not be filtered and allow sites that
some may find desirable to filter.

Filtering is a highly individualistic process which requires
maintenance and personal judgement. After you read this document
you might find the example filters to be more understandable. If
you just want simple rules you can stick with the short version:
If you find a word you do not like in a domain name and want
to avoid going to any domain that uses that word combination then
just add that word to a new line in named.txt.

After making changes to any of the filters you must stop and
restart dnskong (dnskl) in order to use the new rules.

Those familiar with standard wildcard matches will recognize the
use of the * symbol to represent any character. Using standard
wildcarding one may use the rule
elephant*
to match any string starting with the word, elephant.

Regular Expression (RE) matching offers more, and different, rule
symbols than standard wildcard matching. In RE matching, the dot
is used in place of the wildcard * symbol. The RE rule for
matching any string starting with the word, elephant, is
elephant.
rather than the elephant* rule for standard wildcards.

The use of the . being the any character RE symbol makes using a
dot in a regular expression a bit risky as the regular expression
may end up blocking more than intended. The regular expression
can be limited to match only the dot character by placing a \
character in front of the rule. That
is the regular expression
elephant\.
matches
elephant.ears
but does not match
elephantears.

Other common regular expression special characters are [ ] )
( * ? + and, of course, \, which all have some special meaning
to expressions.

The [ character in a Regular Expression (RE) should be followed
by a matching ]. These "square braces" represent a set of
characters. For example,
[abcdefg]
stands for a single character matching one of a, b, c, d , e,
f, or g. The dash can be inserted to indicate a range of
characters as in [a-g] which is the same as the [abcdefg]
regular expression. The expression
elephant[a-z]\.
matches any string containing the word elephant, followed by
a lower case letter a through z, followed by a dot. Any character
located within [] will match the regular expression, so
elephant[acz\.-]
will match
elephanta
elephantc
elephantz
elephant.
elephant-

You can also escape the slash to avoid confusion. For example
if you want to match
elephanta
elephantz
elephant-
you can use the rule:
elephant[az\-]

The symbols, +, * and ? following a regular expression specify
how many matches to make. The + says look for one or more
matches. The * says look for zero or more matches. The ? says
to look for zero or 1 matches. To make a string which matches
the word elephant followed by an optional number 0 through 9,
followed by a dot, followed by the word ears, one could use
elephant[0-9]?\.ears
as a regular expression rule.

The symbols, ^ and $ tell the regular expression what part of
the string should be matched. ^ says to look at the first of
the string, $ says to look at the last of the string.

Standard regular expressions are case sensitive but dnskong lite
converts all lookup values to lower case. This means rules for
dnskong filters should also be in lower case.

There are several other advanced things regular expressions can
do. One of these is to use a | symbol in a regular expression.
The | stands for an option, so a|b|c would match a single a, b,
or c. Under no circumstances should you use the |. Instead you
should place options on separate lines. That is, you should use
a
b
c
to search for a, b, or c rather than the single line a|b|c.

Try to keep your regular expressions simple and be patient as
regular expressions will, eventually, make some sense.

This version contains an example domain filter file, named.txt,
in the filters folder for demonstration purposes only. It is
easy to change rules containing only strings to RE rules as only the
dot (.) needs to be changed. This can be done with
most text editor find and replace functions with the following rule.
find_all change to
. \.