FAQ: Custom work via 2cyr.com

Hello,

For a small fee I can help you quickly recode/recover large pieces of data - texts, databases, websites... or write custom functions you can use.

Here are some common questions and answers. Hopefully, reading this will save some of your time and mine.

Will you decode something for me?

I don't do security-related work like encrypted text, stream or hash. I don't do deciphering or decryption of encrypted (intentionally hidden/obfuscated) stuff.

I do decoding (recovering) of texts, files or databases in languages that use the Cyrillic Alphabet (Bulgarian, Russian and about 50 other languages), where the information about the encoding was lost. My work is with Character Encodings / Charsets, e.g. CodePage-1251 or UTF-8, where the information about the encoding was lost.

I may be able to recover texts in other alphabets, contact me with samples so we can test it. If you can successfully recover a piece of the text at 2cyr.com/decode then it should be possible.

What is the Cyrillic Alphabet?

This is the official alphabet in Bulgaria, Ukraine and many other countries, see article at Wikipedia.

Can you decipher an encrypted file or hash? (or) Can you crack open a Bitcoin wallet with 10000 BTC? I'll give you 0.1 BTC! (or) Can you crack a password protected ZIP/RAR/PDF/other file? (or) Can you help recover files encrypted by virus/ransomware?

Sorry, I don't do security-related work like encrypted text, stream or hash. I don't do deciphering or decryption of encrypted (intentionally hidden/obfuscated) stuff.

What are your fees?

It depends on the complexity and the amount of work, usually 50-200 €. I will send you a quote, and a payment should be made only if I am actually able to recover the texts.
Payment can be made via PayPal. An invoice will be available if you need one. Note: "Value added tax" (VAT) is not collected.

With what kinds of texts/data can you work?

I may be able to recover:

Plain text files or word processor documents created by very old computer systems.
HTML documents, including full websites, static or PHP/database.
Large files, full books, or dozens/hundreds of small files.
SQL/CSV/TSV/sqlite databases, both running in real time or exported as SQL queries.
Mailbox archives -- although, you should first try importing them in the free Sylpheed e-mail client.
Files with broken filenames -- although, first try the free convmv tool.
vCard address books, browser bookmarks and some other kinds of files.
Some old PDFs with broken encodings -- pages can be opened but the characters are unreadable.
A custom function in a PHP application: almost any string, array, object, stream, database records or website submission form data.

What kinds of custom functions can you write?

If you need a function to use in a website or on a server, it can be in the programming languages PHP, Bash or JavaScript (browser or Node.js). The PHP functions can recover a specific kind of broken encoding in real time, for strings or arrays recursively, and database queries -- PDO objects or not. The Bash functions will use a number of standard GNU/Linux command line utilities. I also sometimes write macros for LibreOffice.

What information should I include when I contact you?

Please include as much information about the texts as you know or suspect, for example:

In what language are the texts?
When and where the files were created? (E.g. Moscow, 1988.)
On what kind of computer, operating system, text editor/processor the files were created.
What transformations it has undergone.
Can a part of it be recovered by the Universal Cyrillic Decoder at 2cyr.com/decode?
- If yes: when the text is successfully recovered and readable, what are the settings on the "Expert:" line, notably source encoding:[???] displayed as:[???] postfilter:[???].
If you require an invoice: Company name, Full address, Director or Contact person for the invoice. If you don't require an invoice you can make a donation instead.

Should I paste the "broken" text in my message or attach the original files as attachments?: It is better to attach the original files to the message (as attachment) because copying and pasting sometimes loses some special characters.
Please attach to your message some or all of the sample files that need decoding. If you have many files, and/or they are very large, you can compress/ZIP them and attach the ZIP archive to your message.
You can send me sample files, or all files; an SQL database export, or a portion of the records.
You have read the above, understand it, and want to contact me.: Please send me a message to 5ko [snail] 5ko [period] fr -> 5ko [snail] 5ko [period] fr?subject=Custom work via 2cyr.com with sample files and the information mentioned above.

Greetings,
Petko Yotov

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A software by Petko Yotov
Development sponsored by ACCENT Bulgaria Ltd and Virtour.fr - visites virtuelles à Paris et en Ile-de-France.