Ever wanted to become a Googlebot to see what the bot sees? Now you can. While a Firefox Extension already does this, a DigitalPoint Forums thread discusses how to do this as well (for PC users).
The idea is to make some changes to the Windows registry. Be careful when doing this -- I'm inclined to recommend the Firefox extension instead of making changes that can hurt your system.
Further, another word of caution from the DigitalPoint member:
A word of warning, some sites will ban you if they do an IP range check, or a reverse DNS check and your IP doesn't match that of their stored Googlebot IP addy or DNS.
The skepticism mounts with that warning, with users considering this an attempt at hacking.
hacking is illegal so you could get kicked off your ISP, fined, or even end up with more severe legal trouble. This trick has no way of hiding your IP number so you could end up caught very easy.
Would I go so far as to say it's hacking? Probably not. But I don't think using a registry hack is a good way to go about this; it should be temporary, and the Firefox extensions are more ideal in those situations.
Indeed, many users agree that it's not hacking at all.
Changing your user agent is not hacking. It's not like there is a law mandating you use a specific user agent.
Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.
