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I run a couple of specialist crossword solving websites. They're both custom PHP throughout, but that doesn't stop nefarious bots from trying to access what would normally be Wordpress or Joomla pages - looking for ways to infect blogs and forums.

I get lots of hits like this: ...../word/index.php?option=com_registration&task=register

I had a little difficulty in dealing with this because the part of the url after /word, is used as parameter to run a query, so in theory anything is valid. For example, if a visitor wanted to know about the word "friend" they'd be directed to /word/friend.

I have changed my php so that if a search term ends in .php, .html, .aspx etc I return a 404 error but the dumb bots just keep trying anyway.

They aren't using up a massive amount of bandwidth, or affecting delivery of my services but they do appear all of the time in my analytics which I use to react to searches and make sure I'm carrying the correct answer.

Is there any more I can do?

I've been building up my Crossword Solver website for about five months now. I couldn't get a nice, clean domain name without including a whole bunch of hyphens so I decided to get trendy, drop the vowels and go for crsswrd.com.

Now despite hits (c. 1000 / day) on very specific search terms (like household linen 10 letters) I'm not getting ANY on my preferred keywords "crossword solver".

Should I change the domain name, so that I pick up a bit of free organic search, or should I just stick with the domain name and hope that my (so far very poor attempts) at gaining a few back links eventually pays off?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/29092008/23/2009-bbc...

I'm glad that the BBC have decided to keep Mr Brundle on, but I'm not going to shed any tears over the rest of the team - maybe Louise because she knows so many of the drivers she can usually get to talk to them quite quickly - but I definitely won't miss James...

With all of the missions going to Mars, shouldn't we just put a few seeds or plants into one of them and see what happens when they get there. They might just die or they might flourish, but at least we'd know if Mars really could sustain life...

With all of the current debate about road tax - I think I have a better solution.

Basically, it doesn't matter how much your car pollutes per mile what is important is how much CO2 you create in total.

If you have a 300g CO2/mile car and do 5000 miles per year, you produce the same CO2 as a 100g CO2/mile car that does 15000 miles per year (1500 kgs of CO2 in total). The amount of CO2 you produce is linked directly to the amount of petrol/diesel that you use.

If we abolish road tax (which in 2006/7 brought in £5.1 billion) we could increase the price of petrol and diesel (which brought in £23.6 billion and at least another £4 billion in VAT) to make up the short fall - about 10p per litre.

Now, whilst that may sound terrible, it does mean that we could also abolish the part of the DVLA that runs the whole road-tax system. The disc would be replaced by an insurance disc that your insurer issues with your policy. It also means that foreign drivers are being charged...

You may have heard that Max Mosely is in court this week, suing the News of the World after they alleged that he took part in a 'Nazi style' orgy. Their claims seem to be based on the point that because Max was speaking German, so it must have been a Nazi fantasy, rather than just kinky sex spoken in German.

Surely in this day and age we have grown out of thinking that everything German is Nazi, or does that still ring true...

I'm quite hard on the McCann's as I feel that they chose to leave their children unattended whilst they went out to socialise, and they paid the ultimate price (well, I suppose Maddie paid the price.)

But whenever there is an anti-McCann question, by the time I've typed my answer and try to submit - I'm told that the question has been removed by Customer Services.

Is this a forum where we can discuss current issues openly - or do they all have to tow the company line....

With Super-Aguri in desperate financial trouble - why don't we, the F1 fans try and buy the team?

We can use the same model as Ebbsfleet United ( http://myfootballclub.co.uk/ ) where everyone can buy a share in the team and gets to vote on management decisions such as new drivers and engineers.

I reckon, with the trouble they are in, we could snap them up for about 20 million quid and we'd need about the same for R&D. So, if we say it's an £80 minimum buy in, then we'd only need half a million F1 fans to make it work.

And of course, being the team owners some of us would have to go to the Grands Prix, test sessions, and all the rest of the glamour and glitz...

It might just work....

I miss Paul Stoddard - he was one of the characters of F1, always fighting his corner with arguments based on common-sense and immense passion for his team.

I don't think Max should go (and I'm really not a fan of the chap) but his sexual fantasies are his own business - and I didn't see anything racist in this situation.

But if he did go, it would be great to see Stoddard back on the grid! If Bernie wants characters and ratings, there's your man!

Why should alchohol prices be artifically raised for me, when I drink in moderation, but when I do get 'drunk' I don't behave like an idiot and I always manage to get myself home without punching anybody.

I don't think it's fair that everyone is excluded from having some cheap, alchohol fuelled fun, just because others take it to the extreme.

What do you think?

A man and a woman were having dinner in a fine restaurant. Their waitress, taking another order at a table a few paces away noticed that the man was slowly sliding down his chair and under the table, with the woman acting unconcerned.

The waitress watched as the man slid all the way down his chair and out of sight under the table. Still, the woman dining across from him appeared calm and unruffled, apparently unaware that her dining companion had disappeared.

After the waitress finished taking the order, she came over to the table and said to the woman, 'Pardon me, ma' am, but I think your husband just slid under the table.'

The woman calmly looked up at her and replied firmly, 'No he didn't . He just walked in the door.'

After the comments of the Arch Bishop of Canterbury regarding developing the UK laws to include some elements of Sharia Law, isn't it time we actually went the other way and completely seperated religion from all laws of the UK - whilst maintaining a constitutional right to freedom of religion.

I don't want to download an illegal copy (that would be naughty) but the full Photoshop package is £500 on Amazon.

All I want to do is touch-up some photo's, the odd animated gif and a bit of, well, 'Photoshopping' on some images.

Can anyone recommend a cheaper (or free) alternative? I've seen Photoshop Elements, but I could quite figure out if it was a complete package, or an add-on to Photoshop?

Thanks in advance.

I've just answered a question which included the acronym FCUK (French Connection UK), and to my absolute shock the Yahoo! spell checker suggested that I changed it to.. well you can probably guess what it suggested.

Should such words really be in the Yahoo! dictionary - especially as it will be *****d out.

What is your favourite type of Quark?

The FIA (in their almighty wisdom) are about to freeze all F1 engine development, with Max saying that F1 engines are full developed as they can run at 19,000 rpm and are very reliable.

But doesn't saying that they can't develop the engine any further stop them from improving on the clear disadvantages current engines have.

The amount of power (and therefore fuel) wasted on lifting valves, exhaust gasses, excess heat, excess noise and getting usable power from only 1/4 of the engine each stroke - this is where a LOT of fuel could be saved - not the small percentage that Kinetic Energy could give.

Limit the amount of fuel that a team can use, and have completely unrestrictive power plants. That would bring some major green developments in the automotive traction department.

I don't care which "them" you hate - just tell me about it. What group of people do you unilaterally dislike?

No-one from the British Isles is going to be talking part in Euro 2008, not that we'd want to anyway. I mean, what do Austria know about football?

So, why don't we have our own tournament. The 4 home nations, plus the Republic of Ireland.

They can all play in a mini-league, then, third and fourth play-off for the runner's up medal, and the top two have to play each other to decide the winners.

UK and Ireland 2008 - here we come.

p.s. I came up with the idea, so I want a cut of the TV money.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/16112007/58/massa-pr...

Poor, Felipe - he can't drive without traction control and he thinks there'll be more accidents.

Isn't that the whole point of removing driver aids? So that only the best drivers (i.e. those who can drive without the computers) will make it in F1, and those who rely on technology will fall by the wayside after a few crashes - and make things a bit more interesting for the spectators!