Skip to content

Info About Captcha Sniper Settings

edited October 2012 in Other / Mixed
I had a problem with Captcha Sniper and just got off a support call with them (GREAT support BTW!!). He helped me get things straightened out. Don't know what it was, but CS was not solving many captchas. Things had gotten gunked up somehow. Uninstalled and reinstalled and it was ok.

That is not the real reason for this note though. During the support session, I was able to ask a couple question about the settings on CS as they relate to using it with GSA SER. I have seen this bantered around a little so I thought others might have the same questions.

You should always turn on the "Use captcha_platform for Detection" setting. This is a new feature in CS (that only GSA SER is using at the moment). Normally, CS would have to try to figure out what type of captcha it is trying to decode. With this setting, SER passes the type of captcha to CS. This speeds the solving process up as well as making it more accurate.

The top setting - "Use hosts file redirect" - is another method that CS uses. When this is set, CS will intercept "calls" to other captcha services (Death By Captcha, etc) and redirect them to be solved by CS.

Whether this is turned on or off is important. If you have this turned on, you are telling CS to intercept and solve captchas that would normally go to DBC. So, in SER if you have your 1st service set to CS (and "Use captcha_platform for Detection" set) AND YOU HAVE your 2nd service set to DBC (and "Use hosts file redirect" set), here is what will happen...

1.) SER will first send the captcha to CS (for however many retries you have set).
2.) If that fails, SER will then send the captcha to DBC (or whichever 2nd service you choose). But, CS will intercept this call and try to solve the captcha.

So, in effect, if you have both options turned on, CS will still be solving all the captchas and none will be sent to your captcha service.

These settings also have ramifications if you intend to use CS on the same PC for other applications as well. Since SER is the only program that is currently coded for the "Use captcha_platform for Detection" setting, most other programs would require that the "Use hosts file redirect" setting be turned on. However, with this turned on, it will mess up how SER works with CS (as described above).

So, bottom line (as of right now), is that you should be careful with these settings and make sure you have them set correctly for what you are trying to accomplish.

BTW - In case you wonder about the "Use clean image algorithms" setting. I was told this is an old settings that improves solve rates for only one type of captcha (PHPLD). It is ok to turn this on as well - it will help with that one captcha.

Comments

  • thx 4 sharing, didnt know that myself before
  • So that means if you're using CS with say GSA and Magic Submitter, you should have both options (use captcha platform for detection" and "use hosts file redirect" on?

    But with these two options on, you won't be able to use your 2nd service captcha on GSA. Am I right?
  • @jonathanjon: That is correct.
  • Great David! I just added a link to this thread to the FAQ.
  • @Erbsensuppe: Yeah...I didn't think about letting you know about this. It should be in there. Thanks!
  • That doesn't make any sense. With my setup, i have CS set as my first option, with 1 retry, and i have Shanibpo as my 2nd, with no retries. They way you describe it would mean that Shanibpo would never answer any captchas as i have CS set to use 'Use hosts file redirect' & Use captcha_platform for Detection, but i know this isn't the case, as if it was, my shanibpo captcha balance wouldn't be decreasing, which it is.
  • I don't know. That's what I  was told, straight from the horse's mouth (so to say). Does Shanibpo work with CS? Maybe CS does not try to intercept Shanibpo calls.

    I suspect this is the case. I just checked their website and this is what it says on the front page...

    "Captcha Sniper intercepts calls made to most popular captcha solving
    services including Decaptcha, Death By Captcha, AntiCaptcha and Bypass
    Captcha"

    ...so it appears that Shanibpo would not be included in this.
  • AlexRAlexR Cape Town
    So what is the setting you advise to have shaniBPO as the second option in GSA? 
    (I assume it means to only have the "Use captcha_platform for Detection" enabled)
  • @David -  your comment ..

    "These settings also have ramifications if you intend to use CS on the same PC for other applications as well. Since SER is the only program that is currently coded for the "Use captcha_platform for Detection" setting, most other programs would require that the "Use hosts file redirect" setting be turned on. However, with this turned on, it will mess up how SER works with CS (as described above)."

    Let me clear this up ....

    'Use captcha platform for detection' is about wether or not you have to select individual captchas.  It has no impact one way or the other on wether or not you use 'host file redirect'.

    The 'host file redirect; is meant for applications that do not have CS integrated directly, but rather a service .. and in this case specifically de-captcher.com.  And you are correct, this setting does impact wether or not you can use a service as a 2nd option.

    @johnathanjon - if you are using the at the same time, you need to select individual captcha types and do not select 'use captcha_platform'.  

    @doubleup  - you should increase your retries to about 5.  You are correct, Shanipbo is not yet emulated.  David also confirmed this in his post.


  • @CaptchaSniper: Thanks for clearing some of these points up!
  • I just bought this and can't get the settings to stick. Every time I exit and restart the program the settings are back to default. Anyone else experience this?
  • If I can, let me make sure I have the setting right.

    I use SER and Magic Submitter on this machine. I use DBC as well.

    1. Use Host File Redirect is turned off (unchecked)
    2.  Use "Captcha_Platform" For Detection is on (checked)

    In SER I have the first service set to Captcha Sniper with 0 retry and the second service set to DBC with one retry.

    In the project options I have it set to Ask 1st service.

    Here is a screen shot of my SER setup
    http://screencast.com/t/KQjMn7pTbv11

    Project setup
    http://screencast.com/t/GG1LV6wXy8

    Any help would be appreciated with these setting as I'm not having good results.
  • OzzOzz
    edited October 2012
    @comic regarding CS settings: this is a "feature" at the moment ;)
    next release will solve this hopefully.
  • I'm not sure I know what you mean by that. So are the settings correct for now? Do I need to change the settings in CS each time the program starts?
  • yes, you need to change them everytime.
  • David A2 - thanks for the info here.

    However, I am still a little unclear ! I am using CS as my first service with 5 retries, and DBC as my second service. 

    So my understanding is that having "Use captcha_platform for Detection" selected improves CS solving, but if I want SER to actually use DBC as second setting than "hosts file redirect" must be unchecked? Is that right?
  • My BIG issue here with CS is that when I UNCHECK the Hosts file redirect option - CS returns a runtime error 53 (or something like that), crashes and then CLOSES.

    So while I would like to "use captcha_platform for detection" -- I cannot uncheck the other option which means that DBC is not receiving the captcha by CS intercepting the captcha -- thus, DBC is unable to actually take over.

    Ozz -- you seem pretty techie -- any particular solves on this?
  • @ fullspeed. Sounds like CS has trouble editing the hosts file, are you running CS as admin?

    Regardless, you can still manually edit your host file to remove any DBC entries, though i believe CS only redirects decaptcha by default.
  • No, sorry, can't give you any good advice on this as i didn't  had to configure this for myself. Best advice I can give is to contact @CaptchaSniper as he is the developer and should know best. He is super fast in solving those issues via Skype.

    If this is a common issue I guess he knows what to do right away.

  • Y@m3ownz -- YUP!  I right-click on the startup icon to "Run as administrator" and still get the error.

    I also did an uninstall and fresh install (found this in another forum) -- and still getting the same error.
  • @fullspeed
    error 53
    had this before and it was another program (captcha infinity)
    modifying my C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts  file

    so I cleaned the new entries from the file

    or it could be the 80 port taken over by teamviewer or skype

    otherwise send message to support
  • gotcha -- I think you're right -- because i have Magic Submitter running on here as well..
  • @fullspeed  - definitely send me a message to support - license[at]captchasniper.com and ill help you get CS up and running correctly .. this is most likley the reason for your sub-par results using CS.

    @All - use host file redirect and use captcha platform are not releated.

    use host file redirect means that cs is emulationg (redirecting) a human solving service.  

    use captcha platform means that cs does not require that you select individual captcha types
  • AlexRAlexR Cape Town
    @captchasniper - I've read this thread 3 times and still a little unclear.

    Scenario 1:
    CS as primary and ShaniBPO as secondary - 
    Settings: ONLY select "use captcha_platform for detection"
    Scenario 2:
    CS as primary and DBC as secondary - 
    Settings: ONLY select "use captcha_platform for detection" AND "hosts redirect" 

    Is that correct?

  • no ... both scenarios are the same and you got it right the first time ...

    these settings have nothing to do with each other

    'use hosts file redirect' is for cs emulating de-captcher.com only.  

    'use captcha platform' is for not having to select individual captcha types
  • Sorry for bumping this thread. I just got GSA and CS and was looking for way to improve my performance. I cant seem to find "use captcha_platform for detection"  anywhere, can someone please give me some pointers. Thx in advance.


  • under the assumption that you are running CS X² you have to tick that option in your settings in the header menu.
  • thanks. i dont see anywhere where i can check off "use captcha_platform for detection"? I have attached a screenshot of my CS here;

    image
  • OzzOzz
    edited December 2012
    oh sorry, i had forgotten that this setting was removed from CS as it is no longer needed.

    if you use no other SEO tool than SER than uncheck all captchas and all settings and you should be fine. CS will detect the captchas automatically.
Sign In or Register to comment.