YTK Y! Messenger Companion

YTK Pro is the ultimate Yahoo! Messenger companion. This easy-to-use chat utility provides additional features to Yahoo! Messenger including enhanced privacy, unlimited safe list/white list, unlimited ignore bin, font and style filtering, the highest of anti-boot protection available for the Yahoo! Chat network and full spam and nuisance blocking. When you purchase a copy of YTK Pro, you get lifetime updates (for as long as the program is being developed), and the program is maintained by 2 developers, who release frequent updates. The free version, YTK Basic, is coming soon.

Website: YTK Pro – The Yahoo! Messenger-Integrated Chat Companion
Forums: YTK Pro Community Support Forum :: Index
More Screenshots: http://www.ytkpro.com/screen%20shots/screens.htm

Advantages Of Using YTK Pro

• Ease of use:
  Select the filtering options you want along with their custom levels and YTK Pro will take care of all the rest!
• ‘True’ Yahoo! Messenger Integration!
  YTK Pro integrates with Yahoo! Messenger and truly extends it’s functionality, meanwhile, adding in it’s own.
• Unsurpassed Chat Protection!
  YTK Pro helps to prevent abusive users in and outside of chat rooms from successfully deploying “boots”, “lags” and other malicious attempts against you to knock you off the network or interrupt your chat session.
• Chat Room Message Filtering
  Duplicate messages, “screen clears”, lag attempts, bounce/jitter bot disruption and flooding chat rooms with messages can be optionally blocked so you don’t see them.
• Enhanced Privacy Settings
  YTK Pro includes privacy features that go far beyond those included with Yahoo! Messenger. Extended privacy options allow you to decide if you want to receive private messages and invites from people on your buddy list, safe list, people in chatrooms, and from people that you do not know (unknowns).
• Font & Text Effects Filtering
  Message text effects such as fading, alternating text colors and large fonts can disrupt chatrooms and make many messages hard to read. YTK Pro can optionally filter the sender’s chat text to remove these attributes.
• ‘Bot’ Blocking
  YTK Pro monitors the content of private messages and chat room messages and will block SPAM-related material and random annoyances as they occur.

Some Of The Great Features Include:
General/Instant Message Features:

• Remove all advertisements in Yahoo! Messenger
• Launch at Windows startup
• External Activity Logger with image identification of events
• Orange Alert Bar Notification
• Content Tab Creation
• Audible Alerts
• Automatic Font Resizing (scales messages to 10 pt size)
• Automatic Font Effect Stripping (eliminates Alternate and Faded text effects)
• Smart Font Face Adjustments (makes unreadable font faces readable)
• Buddy List Refreshing
• Voice Refreshing
• YMSG Server selector
• Blocked URL Catcher for chat room URLs that are blocked
• Kill off Online/Offline buddy notifications when they are not truly a buddy
• Flush DNS Resolver Cache Entries
• PM Message Archive Decoder/Viewer w/ search ability
• Auto-ignore Wildcarding capability (RegExing) of chat room message content, IDs, Nicknames and user Location data
• URL Blocking (PMs and chat room messages)
• Smart IP address Blocking (PMs and chat room messages)
• E-mail address Blocking (PMs and chat room messages)
• Font Weight (makes all on-screen text bold)
• Font Variation (makes all on-screen text small and capitalized)
• Ability to disable the local log file that Messenger creates (privacy issue)
• Blocking of Yahoo! Messenger (YMSGR:) crash links involving the URL handler
• Global Ignore Bin (only limited to physical memory) w/ auto-pruning & search capabilities
• Unlimited Global Safe List w/ search capabilities
• Logging of YTK events, Connection events, chat room events, voice events, PC-2-PC call events, unhandled events and unknown packet variant logging system (UPV) 4 “Zones” created for PMs: Friends, Safe List users, Chat room users and Unknown users. -Allow, Block, Block but save PMs, Allow only if contacted, Strip IMVironment content from PMs, Block Buzzes/Dings, PM web search queries, ASL, Magic Word Spam challenge check verification all independently enabled/disabled per group “Zone” 4 “Zones” created for all invitations
• Allow or block independently per group the following types: -Add Buddy Requests -Voice Chat requests in PM -Webcam Invitations -Game Invitations -Chat room invitations -Conference invitations -File Transfer Requests -Send Contact Details -Request Contact Details -Buddy List Sends -Photosharing Requests -Audibles -IMVironments -Plug-ins
• Privacy settings including: Do Not advertise my webcam status as “on” when I join chat rooms – Block P2P connectivity – Hide my PM “Typing” notifications from others – Idle status spoofing
• PC-2-PC Calling options to block or allow based on the 4 groups: Allow, Block or Allow only if you’ve called them
• Voice Mail Message Screening (auto-deletion) based on 4 groups (on hold)
• Offline Message management based on 3 groups with the following options to allow/block: -Offline Add Buddy Requests -Offline PMs -Offline Send Messenger Lists -Offline Send Contact Details -Offline Request Contact Details
• Enable Webcam Fix (Enables VFW for lesser supported webcams)
• File Transfer and P2P configuration (for direct file transfers behind routers)
• SOCKS4/5A proxy support
• Webcam Checker *scanning*
• Clear Blocked and Authenticated *saved* PMs
• Working Deny-A-Buddy for Yahoo!, LCS and WLM/MSN users
• Full WLM and LCS network support for PMs, status messages and add buddy management
• Added back Show Nicknames OR IDs in chat rooms
• Several custom menus added for full integration and convenience
• Packet profiling technology (advanced malformed packet rejection system)
• Help File and community forum tech support
• Offers full compatibility with Messenger versions 7.02 through version 8.1 non-beta builds
• Supports Windows XP Pro/Home/MCE, 2K and 2K3 operating systems (32-bit support only with 64-bit support on the way, also Vista support on the way eventually)
• Ability to run in Limited Account environments (does NOT require administrative privileges)

Chat Room Features:

• Recently Joined Rooms List *Join chat room window enhancement*
• Embedded Chat Room Activity Logger *chat window enhancement* w/ line count customization
• Option to disable Messenger auto-voicing in chat rooms
• Remove all advertisements in Yahoo! Messenger
• Show Yahoo!, LCS and WLM friend’s status messages on-screen in chat rooms
• Friend & Safe List Join & Leave chat room on-screen notifications
• Mic Locker/Holder in chat rooms
• Custom clear chat screen hotkey combination creation (works with global scope)
• Automatically ignore “voice bots” when voiced
• Custom ignore message creation (WYSIWYG) w/ chat room broadcasting
• Window Filter settings for the chat room screen including a blur effect, flipping the text on-screen horizontally or vertically and an x-ray effect.
• Chat screen background color chooser (color palette selection and accepts custom hex color code input)
• Chat screen ability to set a background image in chat rooms via right clicking the chat screen
• Username auto-complete in chat rooms (also supports nickname auto-completion if nicknames are on)
• Enlarged chat room text input area
• Enlarged (widened) chat room user list
• Room Knocker/Buster
• Winamp song broadcasting to chat rooms
• LaunchCAST song broadcasting to chat rooms
• Alias Auto-“Cloaking” for Anti-Boot
• TCP Voice for chat rooms and conferences instead of default UDP voice
• Chat room filtering for duplicate chat room messages (slider levels)
• Chat room filtering for flooding & auto-ignore (slider levels)
• Chat room message inspection and spam filtering (slider levels)
• Auto-ignoring of chat room bots with similar names (slider levels)
• Bounce Bot protection in chat rooms (slider levels)
• Enhanced voice ignore support *stronger than Messenger’s*
• Auto-ignore of chat usernames that exceed a # of characters (user-specified amount)
• Block ignore messages from other YTK users
• Block Winamp broadcasts by other YTK users
• Show contents of blocked chat room messages in the activity logger
• Recent Rooms List manager
• Create New Room button added back to Join chat room window
• Right click clear screen option in chat window
• Remove user’s text from chat room screen
• Remove user from chat room list and add to Global Ignore Bin
• Chat room window and buddy list window transparency settings
• Clear embedded chat room activity logger support
• Command-line support in chat rooms

Changelog:

1.0 Build 244 Beta:
Fixes:

• Fixed Messenger Startup option battling YTK’s startup option (deleted Messenger’s registry startup entry when set in YTK)
  Note: If you enable YTK at startup then it will delete Messenger’s entry however, if you do this and then run Messenger by itself you will need to uncheck Messenger’s startup option. We recommend this anyhow so there’s no battling.
• Fixed Alert Bar Focus Stealing Issue (focus is not set on the bar anymore)
• YMSG Server Selector once set would not allow you to go back and let Messenger use it’s default (wasn’t an option in the combobox)
• Fixed Alert Bar caption (again) and removed the word “Chat” from all connection events
• Fixed URL Catcher (Chat text was sometimes appended to the URL at the end)
• A small PC-2-PC Call issue was fixed
• Flood Filter isn’t as sensitive as it previously was

Additions:

• Quick Voice Ignoring is now an option (Crosshair Mouse Cursor) under “Additional Chat Room Settings” since some users may not use this or like the fact that it was forced on you
• Refresh Voice Toolbar button in chat is now an option under “Additional Chat Room Settings” and isn’t forced on you to see
• Added file extension filters for incoming file x-fers (disallow list/ACL for implicit denying based on file extension as well as correct filename validation and flagging)
• Added a Refresh Chatter List menu to YTK Pro’s menu in chat
• Added a “Chat” menu to the Buddy window for easier/faster access to join a chat room
• Added a Safelist User button to YTK’s Authenticated User Message Window (UIC)
• Added a YMSG Protocol Reversion option. What does this mean? It means you’ll be able to instruct Yahoo Messenger and dictate what version of the YMSG protocol it should login with and use during your Yahoo session. This is located under the “Anti-Boot” section of YTK Pro’s control panel.
• Images were added to correspond to each Chat Network Provider when the Chat Network is selected in Deny-A-Buddy (Yahoo!/LCS/WLM)
• A Loon (species of bird) Alert Sound for “Blocked but Saved” Private Messages was added when “Enable Audible Event Alerts” in General Options is checked

*Note: This list does not take into account a lot of internal changes to YTK’s underlying architecture or chat room handling changes that are still being worked in and refined.

1.0 Build 238 Beta:
Fixes:

• When signing in with Messenger YTK’s alert bar said “Signing into Yahoo! Chat…”
• Under the Advanced section in YTK the SOCKS proxy AUTH option was enabled when the feature was disabled
• In the Filter Rules window the count was not updated at the top when a rule is deleted or all rules are cleared
• When YTK is first opened the top gray panel in the control panel said “options” instead of General Options and remains that way until General Options in the treeview is clicked

Additions:

• Added Blocked URL Catcher for chat room URLs that are blocked
• Search Message feature added to YTK Archive Viewer
• Added Show Global Ignore Bin, Show Global Safe List, Show Event Logger and Show Blocked URL Catcher to YTK’s task tray context menu
• Killed off Online/Offline buddy notifications when they are not truly a buddy (Yahoo Server Error)
• Selectable font point size now allowed for the Auto-Font Resizing feature
• Allow user to set a background image in chat rooms via right clicking the chat screen

Website: YTK Pro – The Yahoo! Messenger-Integrated Chat Companion
Forums: YTK Pro Community Support Forum :: Index
Screenshots: http://www.ytkpro.com/screen%20shots/screens.htm

NOTE: YTK Pro is a separate program than ‘Y!TunnelPro’. YTK has similar features, but has/will have more unique features of it’s own. YTK is also considered an alternative to ‘Y!TunnelPro’.

I edited my post above to reflect the new builds changes. 😎 Big kudos to Dermot for placing this here. 😎

Detn8r, if you have any questions, suggestions or concerns feel free to contact me via e-mail or through the forum or through forum PM over @ forum.ytkpro.com. Glad you’re giving it a try.

I will note a couple things, however. This is to avoid any potential uncertainty:

Right now, as of beta build 244 (the 3rd YTK Pro public release) the spam rules in-chat are primitive and heavily rely upon user-created Wildcard rules. Now, this was done by design and for a reason so that users could give us feedback on how they wanted us to handle spam and so forth.

In the next release (or a release directly thereafter) we will give you the option to use boolean operators for countering much of the spam in chat rooms (to allow you to make “smarter” spam blocking decisions). As of right now, between my own small collection and a moderator of my forum (LostBrilliance) collection are available to be used (since no wildcard rules by default come preloaded). Together our wildcard rules total to over 1,400 (which soon will be heavily decreased because we’re opting out of literal string wildcards in favor of boolean operator wildcard rules).

If you want a “cleaner” chat room I’d set your slider levels to the highest (or high enough) settings and I’d obtain the available wildcard spam rules here:

http://www.ytkpro.com/rules/Merged_Filters.zip

Installation instructions for applying the above filter rule file to YTK Pro:

When you install YTK Pro and run it for the first time it creates your GSL & GIB (respectively your Global Safe List & Global Ignore Bin) files. Your Filters.sav file will also be created, regardless of whether or not you’ve added any of your own Wildcard rules for auto-ignore.

Navigate to “Documents and SettingsApplication DataYTK Pro” and replace your empty (assuming you haven’t filled it with any rules yet) Filters.sav file with the one I’ve provided for download. This file will serve as a base ruleset of which you can easily build off of for the time being.

Let me know how it turns out and how it’s going in general. Don’t be afraid to test all of the functionality from the PC-2-PC calling options to the group management “Zone” permissions. =)

Yep, sure is. If you’re a YTK Pro user, make sure you sit down, and go through all the features to know what works for you, and what doesn’t.

P.S. There is a new release sometime this week, so be prepared. 😉

YTK Pro Version 1.0 Beta Build 250 Has Been Released for Download!

Release Notes are available here: YTK Pro Community Support Forum :: View topic – YTK Pro v1.0 Build 250 Released!

Within only a period of 6 days three new and extremely effective Anti-Boot options have been added. Of these three one of them offers 100% unbootability on the Yahoo! Chat network using YMSG protocol (Flood Deflection – ‘Gawd Mode’).

• Additions:
• Added 2 brand new Anti-Boot Options (some of YTK’s functionality is temporarily disabled because of these 2 new features, please read about the new anti-boot options in the Anti-Boot Protection section of the forum for details!)
  • *New Feature* Activate Flood Deflection checkbox added to Messenger’s sign in window for your convenience for enabling/disabling this feature.
  • Gawd Mode feature added for complete unbootability (not kidding here at all regardless of your connection speed). Users can activate this via the command line in chat rooms with /gawd
• Added manual program update checker to YTK Pro’s systray menu
• Added support for automatic updates however this will not be usable until next release
• Started initial work on YTK Basic which will be completely FREE to the public when it debuts (VERY soon)

  Fixes:

• Unpacked ytk_snd_lib.dll with UPX because of an early week “False Positive” detection by Panda software and because packing files can raise suspicion among malware scanners, they removed this “False Positive” detection immediately after I contacted them and provided the file for them to analyze so it should not be flagged anymore
• Fixed open file dialog issue with not being able to locate Yahoo Messenger
• Removed external Vox due to some users experiencing voice connection issues
• Corrected external Event Logger’s caption because it was incorrect
• YTK Pro’s “About” window wasn’t topmost/ontop of other visible windows
• KeepAlive option was broken
• Fixed a minor zone confliction which involved buddies not overriding safe listees (Buddies are always top priority over any other zone) at sign in if a user existed in both zones at the same time

Update your forum profile signatures if you plan to upgrade to this new build, this is mandatory guys and a MUST for us admins and/or mods to be able to assist you with questions or problems.

Any users who are upgrading from a previous build install the new build into the same directory to avoid activation issues, you must uninstall the older build first however and when the installer asks you if you want to install into the already existing directory you must choose “Yes”.

-Brock

**Note: I just wrote up a quick How-To on using the new Anti-Boot Protection schemes in this new build. It’s highly recommended that you actually read it:

-Adam