Anybody know what this file is about: http://www.google.com/default.reg ?

Here's another wierd one... http://www.google.com/call

the call thing is really old..
http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2006-06-12.html#n74

and this thing is new.. (to me.. :/)

http://www.google.com/default

Another odd page...

https://www.google.com/accounts/RatePassword

I also found this...

http://www.google.com/google_rsearch.reg

Here's a search appliance test. It has only indexed about 53 pages though. http://gsademo1.google.com/

"Anybody know what this file is about: google.com/default.reg ?"
>> to set Google as default search engine on Internet Explorer

"www.google.com/accounts/RatePa ..."
>> all is in the name, when you create a Google account, it display is the "complexity" of your password is low or high ;-)

wow.. tom.. awesome knowledge.. thanks :)

BTW, John... maybe youre the next Tony Ruscoe.. who knows? ;)

ok.. i got some info about this Google Search Appliance thing:

<< The Google Search Appliance makes the sea of lost and misplaced data on your web servers, file servers, content management systems, relational databases and business applications instantly available from a single familiar search box. Through an interface as simple and intuitive as Google.com, your employees will have instant, real-time secure access to all the information and knowledge across your entire enterprise – in more than 220 different file formats, and in over 109 different languages. >>

http://www.google.com/enterprise/gsa/

BTW, http://Google.com/gsa leads to the same page..(http://google.com/enterprise/gsa/)

Ha, I'm just doing a search of site:google -intitle:google and it gives a bunch of odd pages.

Some odd blank page: http://kickit2.google.com/

http://google.com/health forwards to Adwords for some reason.

Looks like a test for job listings in Google base...
http://base.google.com/base/jobs.xls
"Love T-shirts? Just can't get enough? Why not consider a career as an official Google T-shirt Distributor." It pays 25K a year and you just have to have a high school degree.

The Google Search Appliance is nothing new, just interesting that one is just sitting out on the internet like that.

"Anybody know what this file is about: google.com/default.reg ?"
>> to set Google as default search engine on Internet Explorer

TOMHTML : If its to set Google search as default, what are all those microsofts doing there.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerMain]
"Use Search Asst"="yes"
"Search Page"="http://home.microsoft.com/access/allinone.asp"
"Search Bar"="http://home.microsoft.com/search/lobby/search.asp"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftInternet ExplorerSearchURL]
""="http://home.microsoft.com/access/autosearch.asp?p=%s"
"provider"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerSearch]
"SearchAssistant"="http://ie.search.msn.com/{SUB_RFC1766}/srchasst/srchasst.htm"

"SearchAssistant"="ie.search.msn.com..." this is to set MSN as default.

Is something wrong?

yeah

in that registry file they have disabled search assistant
(talking about google.com/google_rsearch.reg)

"Use Search Asst"="no"
and overrided the default search engine of internet explorer to
google search and using google.com/ie_rsearch.html as default search assistant

now coming to google.com/default.reg

in this registry file "Use Search Asst"="yes" where default search engine is enabled
The above file is the default registry file of internet explorer in which microsoft search engine has been set to default

Google uses the above default.reg file to analyse how microsoft search is set to default and

by overridding the default reg file with google reg file it makes us google as default search engine

..

and coming to Google Search Appliance.

had anybody tried searching with public and secure content ?

when i try to search it automaticallys became https.....

switched to secured content... as you guys told its appliance search....

The Excel document is awesome! :D
Even with the salary... thanks :)

The "default.reg" file was mentioned here – and I'm sure there was another thread discussing it too – but I can't find it at the moment:
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/22097.html

<< The Google Search Appliance is nothing new, just interesting that one is just sitting out on the internet like that. >>

There isn't just one – you can change the number to anything between 1 and 37 (I think). There was an entire thread here on the http://gsademo1.google.com URLs too but I can't find that either! (I don't think Google indexes this forum very well...)

<< BTW, John... maybe youre the next Tony Ruscoe.. who knows? ;) >>

Yeah, in his dreams... ;-) It's always interesting to see these things but if you found them using Google, the chances are that they're already known. You can often find answers by putting the URLs in double quotes and searching again – like this:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22google.com%2Fdefault.reg%22

(The first thing I do when I think I've discovered a new service is Google like mad using all different sorts of combinations to check that nobody has mentioned it before.)

My only question to you is how do you discover the secret pages? Or is that one of your special secrets? ;-) Large word list?

<< but if you found them using Google, the chances are that they're already known. >> I thought that they would spider their stuff quickly and possibly link to something by mistake.

i think he kind of "pings" page names..

<< Large word list? >>

Yep – that's usually the basis for my discoveries (when used in conjunction with some scripts to do the leg work)!

Perl I suppose?

<< how do you discover the secret pages? Or is that one of your special secrets? ;-) Large word list? >>

no, it simple.. Tony works for Google..for a couple of years now.. he just didnt tell anyone about it..right Tony? ;)
its just like Google bought Firefox.. and they didnt tell anyone about it..

<< Perl I suppose? >>

Nope. ASP and VBScript.

Tony: if you're "pinging" these pages wouldn't Google's great firewalls / IDS systems would have picked up on your trail by the time you execute them? i mean, i couldn't possibly imagine that Google servers would allow these pages to exist outside their corp network, but then again you've shown us already that they do and you've discovered great pages with your magic scripts.

Have you checked your firewall logs to see if Google pings you back and trys to whois you?... or has Google sent you any letter/email about detecting your mischievous scripts?

hey i got a simple way to explore google pages, i use the below tool

http://www.auditmypc.com/site-maps.asp

a sitemap generator which indexes all the pages from the site we list.. but

you must unselect all the options , you should not follow the robots.txt file. this sitemap has that option not to repect robots.txt file and so it indexes all the list in a domain,..

just give it a try.......

Is it illegal to search for random domains, even when automated?

Josue R:

<< if you're "pinging" these pages wouldn't Google's great firewalls / IDS systems would have picked up on your trail by the time you execute them? >>

Maybe. But I'd expect that my requests don't even show up on their radar. Just imagine how many requests they get every second!

<< i mean, i couldn't possibly imagine that Google servers would allow these pages to exist outside their corp network, but then again you've shown us already that they do and you've discovered great pages with your magic scripts. >>

I guess their Trusted Testers need access to services – and they might not always be inside their corporate network or connected via Google's VPN.

<< Have you checked your firewall logs to see if Google pings you back and trys to whois you?... or has Google sent you any letter/email about detecting your mischievous scripts? >>

No and no.

<< Is it illegal to search for random domains, even when automated? >>

Why do you ask? I don't think it is. How could it be? It's not even illegal to disrespect a robots.txt file – is it?

what about this page? (i think weve talked about it before..)

https://services.google.com/
it says the following:
<< This space intentionally left blank >>

but this page for example works fine:
https://services.google.com/inquiry/video

<< Is it illegal to search for random domains, even when automated? >>

Here's an article that may be of interest...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/13/technology/13suit.html?ex=1278907200&en=377b4b470d4593e0&ei=5088

David, doesn't the Firefox with Google Toolbar use services.google.com

Jon – that's an interesting article. The problem discussed there is more to do with Digital Millennium Copyright Act and copyright violation than anything else though.

<< The suit further contends that among other violations, the firm violated copyright by gathering, storing and transmitting the archived pages as part of the earlier trademark litigation. >>

I'm not gathering content anyway – I'm merely requesting it to see if it exists. And that's not against any law AFAIK. Even if I was, it would be hypocritical of Google to tell me I couldn't publish it as that's exactly what they do with the cached version.

<< Under popular Web convention, such a file – known as robots.txt – dictates what parts of a site can be examined for indexing in search engines or storage in archives. >>

I don't think "popular Web convention" really constitutes law either. I agree with Martijn Koster who was quoted in that article as saying, "First of all, robots.txt is a voluntary mechanism ... Robots can ignore robots.txt."

Now here's a question: Should it be possible to copyright a URL or a domain so that nobody else can link to it, publish it or otherwise use it without your permission?

<< David, doesn't the Firefox with Google Toolbar use services.google.com >>

dont know.. :/