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Back to UserFriendly Strip Comments Index
| Funny little hack! |
by nixit |
2001-11-05 00:00:42 |
Okay, I might as well start off by admitting that I actually use Macro$lop for something and get the humiliation out of the way; I like to play games at zone.msn.com. I started when it was just www.zone.com before Macro$lop bought them out, so that's my excuse. In case you've never played there, they put a little game chat client on your system (left over from when it was just zone, not MSN/passport related) which maintains your account login while you play games. I used to be able to start the chat client without having to open any Website and wait to see some of my friends on line before I bothered opening a window for the games. Recently, they started changing the setup (read: fixing with what wasn't broke) and messed up that whole system. Now, the chat client doesn't even have a login function, you have to log in via the login link on their website to even start your chat client (supposedly, but I'm getting to that). This ticked me off 'cause I don't want to have to open their banner ridden, high-bandwidth front page just to wait for friends to come on line. I contacted the gamer's tech support and was told there is no other way to log in and start the chat client. Oh really? We'll just see about that!
I knew that there was really only a bit of code being sent back from the servers to activate the chat client and that the resulting page and most of the source page were not really needed. I checked the login page, found the code for the login form, and saved it off line. Then I stripped out the unnecessary stuff, gave it the base reference of the server and tested it. TA-DA! Step one: successful. WooHoo!
Next, what about the page that comes up after logging in? Well, the link to the login page contains "?returnurl=http%3A//zone.msn.com/go/" which tells it where to go after logging in (yeah, I know, I'd love to tell MSN where to go!). I found that if you leave this out it defaults to their banner ridden, high-bandwidth front page. I also found, however, that you can put any website in there, it doesn't have to be one on their server! WHOOT! Now, just take a wild shot-in-the-dark (watch out for grues) guess where I redirected it to. You got it, UserFriendly! HA! Take THAT! Not only do I not have to put up with their banner junk while I wait, I can get redirected to UserFriendly in the process!
Now, the only interaction I have to have with their server is posting the form data, receiving the low-bandwidth confirmation page with confirmation data to start the chat client, and receiving the http header to redirect me to UF. HA! I love it. |
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[ Reply ] |
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OOPS! Sorry! Hey, Kickstart! | by nixit | 2001-11-05 00:05:07 |
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sometimes | by sketcher | 2001-11-05 00:16:27 |
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Something | by nixit | 2001-11-05 00:25:23 |
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Zone causes SEIZURES now (?) | by taciturnia | 2001-11-05 00:23:33 |
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link | by crazysteve | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
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Exactly! | by nixit | 2006-11-19 12:55:59 |
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