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Blockpost

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The Blockpost plugin options

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There are three sections to the Blockpost plugin options:

1 - Untrusted Zone text box

This is where you enter IP addresses to be blocked. It is also where you add search terms when trying to find a particular entry in large lists.

2 - Untrusted Zone list box

Here are all the IP addresses that Blockpost is currently blocking and their Domain Names. Blockpost now also shows the SubNet and a user comment to help determine why an IP address was added.

3 - IP Counter

This is the current number of IPs being blocked vs. the total number of IPs that Blockpost supports. The current version of Blockpost supports up to 40,000 entries.

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Adding and Removing entries

You can add a new entry in several ways:

• Domain Name#Comment
  Example: www.gator.com#Gator Crapware
• IP Address/SubNet mask#Comment
  Example: 194.67.35.205/255.255.255.255#Spylog
• IP Address/SubNet mask,Domain Name#Comment
  Example: 209.233.212.246/255.255.255.255,www.comet.com#Comet Cursor Ad/Spyware
• IP Address#Comment
  Example: 168.143.118.120#Adult Web Site

After entering the a new addition click on the 'ADD' button and Blockpost will resolve any hosts to IP addresses* and then add the new sites/IPs. Don't hit return, the 'OK' button has the focus, doing so will close the Options window, instead of adding the new entry. The SubNet mask is optional, if your not sure about the SubNet mask use 255.255.255.255

To remove an entry click once on an IP address to select it and then click on the 'REMOVE' button or press the 'Delete' key once. You can select all entries by double right clicking on any IP address.

* = Only if the Domain Name#Comment format was used, if IP Address/SubNet mask,Domain Name#Comment format was used blockpost won't have any need to resolve the host name.

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Searching the IP list

Enter a string in the Untrusted Zone text box, such as Gator.

Now click on the button 'FIND'. If a match is found the message 'pattern found.' will appear in the status bar and the the last entry displayed will be the entry with your search term.

If this is not the particular occurrence of your search term that you are after keep hitting the 'FIND' button until you come across the entry you are looking for.

The search feature is very powerful, for example, if you are looking for this entry in Blockpost 128.121.123.92/255.255.255.255,www.accesstracking.com#Ad/Spyware Web Site you could enter any of the following as search criteria:

• 121.123.92/255
• accesstracking.com#Ad
• 255.255.255.255,www.accesstracking.com

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Sorting the IP lists

You can sort any of the 4 columns by left clicking once on a column heading, you can reverse the order by clicking once more. HOST NAME and COMMENTS columns are sorted alphabetically. IP and Mask columns are sorted numerically (in the correct order), so 100.1.1.1 will go after 20.1.1.1.

Using pre-created IP lists and making your own for others

Blockpost now allows you to import Blockpost IP lists allowing you to add many entries at once. To do so just click on the 'IMPORT' button and browse to the folder containing the IP list you want to import is located and select the file. To save your current entries click on the button 'EXPORT', you will be prompted to give the file a name (the file will be saved as plain text). You can also create lists form scratch or base them on similar existing files like the Host File. A very good program for this is NS Batch, a freeware program for perfoming batch forward and reverse DNS lookups.
NS Batch

Checking hosts and IPs are valid

You can have Blockpost check that all IPs exist and that all host that point to that IP are in your current list by clicking on the 'REBUILD' button. Don't do this if you have a large file, it currently takes about 10 seconds per entry. When rebuilding is in progress the status bar will show a spinning line until the rebuilding is complete.

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Manually adding IPs to Blockpost

It is possible to add IPs without using the GUI. First shutdown Outpost and open the blockpost.lst file in side Outpost's directory with your text editor. Add the addresses you want added and save the file. Then restart Outpost. Blockpost will have the new IP addresses in it's list of blocked IP's.

Do the addresses need to be in numeric order?

There is no need to list the IP addresses in numeric order, Blockpost will do this when you next shutdown Outpost.

Can you add multiple addresses while Outpost is running?

No. Blockpost re-saves it's blockpost.lst file when Outpost is shutdown, so making manual additions while Outpost is running will mean that those additions are lost when you next start Outpost.

NB: If lines entered manually are in the format Domain Name#Comment, Blockpost will try to resolve the domain name when OP starts up, this may cause a delay of 5-10 sec on every host line in this format. For speedier starting of Blockpost it is best to use as few of these entries as possible when you enter them manually. This is not a problem if entering them using GUI as when Outpost shutsdown Blockpost will save any entries added with the format Domain Name#Comment as IP Address/SubNet mask,Domain Name#Comment.

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Blockpost Log

There are 4 columns in the Blockpost log

1. Date/Time
   This is the Date and Time that access to the IP address in the Details column was blocked.
2. Details
   This is the IP address that Blockpost has blocked access to or from.
3. Host Name
   This is the Domain name that is associated with the IP address in the Details column (there can be more then one Host for an IP and more then one IP for a Host).
4. Comment
   This is a descriptive text to remind you why this entry is in Blockpost's list of IP addresses.

Sample IP lists for Blockpost
Download Blockpost (The thread that contains the download link)

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Outpost and the Outpost logo are ©Agnitum Software

This is an unofficial guide, the information expressed here may differ from Agnitum's. There is a support forum (no longer run by Agnitum, but by users) if you need more help this is a good place to start. Where information here conflicts with what Agnitum have told you always go with the information given to you by Agnitum.

Guide/site and images ©Stephen Cox