Hi all,

as many of us I'm having problems with the spam registrations. I was using version 6.1.5 with Captcha activated and the bogus registrations kept coming no matter what.

In one of the forum threads about this problem I have come across the reCaptcha solution which I tried to implement only to realise after I installed it this solution only works for DNN 6.2 and above.

I therefore prepared everything for a system upgrade. After looking at a couple of possible versions (I choose according to the user evaluation - number of stars and comments - i decided to give version 6.2.3 a try.

Installation went fine but... when I tried to install and activate iWebs reCaptcha module various "problems" started "hitting the fan" so to speak.

1) No matter what, even if the option Use Captcha on registration is activated in Admin -> Site Settings -> User Account settings, no captcha control appears on the registration page.. :/

2) A brand new error materialized right before my eyes. Now each and every time I try to make a change to my site settings, like, for example, setting the user Registration to "None" the site throws this lovely exception

Error: Site Settings is currently unavailable. DotNetNuke.Services.Exceptions.ModuleLoadException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. ---> System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at DotNetNuke.Modules.Admin.Portals.SiteSettings.UpdatePortal(Object sender, EventArgs e) --- End of inner exception stack trace --- 

After googling it up I realised this exception is sort of "final"... there is no known solution to it at least not that I know of.

The result is: now I have a DNN installation I can't modify that has no Captcha and fills up with bogus users by the hour.

Any suggestions as what I could do: besides changing platform altogether which I rather not do given the work and the money I invested on Modules and Data entry....

I can't upgrade to version 7 - My hosting provider does not have Azure and is not planning to implement it

URGENT HELP WANTED on ALL issues!

I'm trying to go ahead and further upgrade my Installation to 6.2.4... just in case I manage to solve at least the Site Settings

problem. Will eventually revert to 6.1.5 - yes, I do have a backup of my files and database but that does not solve the spam user registration issue :/

Any help from savvy DNNers will be greatly appreciated. Oh, by the way. Another sweet little collateral problem I'm experiencing at the time is the Application Pools for my DNN sites tend to eat up close to ONE GIGABYTE of memory and 99% CPU and are slowing my hosting provider's machines. No use telling you he is not happy about this!

Thanks again :(

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Did you use the correct reCaptcha module (there is one for DNN 6.2+ and one for DNN 7)? (I assume you mean this one:http://www.interactivewebs.com/blog/i...).

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Yes this is the one and I'm using the 6.2+

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Another thing you can do is setting up a custom registration page and blocking the default registration (see here:http://www.dnnsoftware.com/wiki/page/...). You need DNN 7.2.2+ for this, otherwise the bot can register despite the 404 error.

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Can't upgrade to 7.x because my hosting environrment does not meet the necessary system requirements :(

Still getting the catastrophic Site Setting unavailable messagge after upgrading to version 6.2.4. I guess I'll have to go back to 6.1.5 and try to find some way out of this :/