Z Central Station Website Problems?

HoboTim Apr 12, 2007

  1. Don A

    Don A TrainBoard Supporter

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    Still does not work here - and I use FireFox

    Then I switched over to Internet Explorer and VOILA - It worked. Seemed to me FireFox updated a few weeks ago, and therein may be the problem.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 19, 2007
  2. zztop

    zztop TrainBoard Member

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    I'm using the latest Firefox on both the Mac & the PC and both work fine here.
     
  3. HoboTim

    HoboTim TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hmmmmmm

    Three Computers, none linked together!

    Internet Explorer and Firefox

    Both show the same thing.

    [​IMG]

    Neither can get ZCS to open!

    Whatever happened, happened last week Sunday evening after I turn off my PC or Monday morning when I turned it on!!!!! I don't know which, but it happened!!!

    Ugh!!!!!!!!!!
     
  4. RSmidt

    RSmidt TrainBoard Member

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    Chat is working again tonight for some of us.

    Brad said the host messed up some stuff.
     
  5. kimvellore

    kimvellore TrainBoard Member

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  6. Don A

    Don A TrainBoard Supporter

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    Zilch on both FireFox and IE at 10:00 pm. IE worked O.K. at about 8:30 pm -- Eastern Daylight Time
     
  7. zztop

    zztop TrainBoard Member

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    Tim,
    It almost sounds like when the site crashed your ip address was some how blocked by either by the software or the host. If you go to
    ip-adress.com it will give you your ip address and then you could ask Brad to check it against the ip log for his site.
    When sites crash you never know how it might affect your system. Good luck and i sure hope you get back on soon.
     
  8. SJ Z-man

    SJ Z-man TrainBoard Member

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    Way to go Charlie. Irfanview is a great viewer and editor. Thanks for giving Tim the clear instructions.
     
  9. Z Central Station

    Z Central Station TrainBoard Member

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  10. HoboTim

    HoboTim TrainBoard Supporter

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  11. kimvellore

    kimvellore TrainBoard Member

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    Tim,
    Can you post a screen capture of the processes running in your computer.
    to do that push Ctrl-Alt-Del, select Processes tab, click on User Name on the top and post a screen capture. That might give more info for debugging.

    Kim
     
  12. Torsja

    Torsja TrainBoard Member

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    Ill, answer here Tim because it has nothing to do with the "What's on the Workbench"

    Then it might be that your IP address from your internet supplier or mail server has been banned from another host or server somewhere on the route to Europe.
    I guess that ZCS's web host company could check your public IP and or mail server domain in its logs and perhaps grant you access again. It's a spam filter problem some where most likely.

    I have had some trouble with sending some mail to Bob at Narrow Gauge Gazette some time ago. But when I sent the mail from another mail server with a different IP address it worked okay. Now it seems to bee working fine again with my regular mail server.
    It took about a year before it worked again.
     
  13. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Try using a proxy server like Proxify and see if it will let you view the page. This is how I get through the "Superscout" blocking errors at work.
     
  14. HoboTim

    HoboTim TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow!!!

    Robert!!!!

    It Works!!!!

    Only Problem is, I have to Pay to Sign in!!! Damn Road Blocks!!!!!

    Does anyone know of a Proxy Service that I don't have to pay for!!! Ugh!!!

    Thanks Robert!!!

    Hobo Tim
     
  15. JR59

    JR59 TrainBoard Supporter

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    Tim, the access is free when I try it.
     
  16. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    Also, the fact that you can access the site through a proxy server means, you are in fact blocked for some reason. What common software is on all of your systems? did you load a recent patch to windows or your browser on all your machines? do you use any software that was provided by your ISP that can be uninstalled? Can you change any of your security or privacy settings in control panel/internet options?

    There are lots of proxy servers out there, like anonymizer, and others. This is just a workaround, but the real problem is either your ISP has blocked Z Central, or some software has changed settings on your computers.

    I have never installed any software from my ISP, instead I bought a router that has an automatic PPPoE dialer, and it automaticly reconnects me after 60 seconds of being disconnected, so my DSL is in effect always logged on to the network. This requires no software, just the knowledge of my account login and password.

    I have no virus software installed, and just use safe surfing practices, by avoiding strange sites, and never clicking the yes or no on a popup, instead clicking the X in the upper right corner of the window.

    A popup with a yes or no button is a trick where both buttons can mean "Yes, why don't you install your trojan or virus on my system please?" " I have a veritable plethera of credit card info, passwords, and contacts to give you, my dear hacker friends!"
     
  17. DPSTRIPE

    DPSTRIPE TrainBoard Supporter

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    It may also mean that the IP address that comcast is assigning Tim's computer (or router) falls in a range that ZCentral's Web hosting service is blocking for some security reason (as Torsja mentioned). Not just spam e-mails, but the IPs might have been hijacked for use in an attack on another server. Often, the easiest, although probably not the best way, to stop the attack is to block the IP ranges that are attacking.

    Do you know someone else in your immediate area with Comcast? Maybe see if they can access the site. It might also be a problem with your providers Domain Name Server, and for some reason, it can not resolve the IP address from the Web site name. If that is the case, then maybe adding the sites IP address to the windows HOSTS file would help.

    Robert,
    I wouldn't recommend not using Anti-virus software. I never used it, either, until a couple of years ago. I have a cable modem (No PPoE dialer, just always connected), and I always used a router with a built in firewall, and used the "safe-surfing" practices that you mentioned (which are always a good idea). Well, one day my router died. So, I figured "Windows has a firewall built in, no problem." Boy, was I wrong. Apparently, there were all sorts of bots and other programs lurking around outside of Adelphia's (now Comcast) servers looking out for unprotected Windows machines. I didn't even get the chance to launch Internet Explorer before the activity light on my modem lit up solid and my hard drive started running at warp speed. I couldn't launch IE, the Windows firewall crashed. I unplugged the ethernet cable from my modem after less than a minute, but the system was already trashed. I spent two days using Anti virus software and addware and spyware removal tools, but it was no use. Even the Windows restore points (of which there were several) had all been deleted. I finally just did a "format C:" from a boot disk.

    Today, I keep a spare router on hand, and anti-virus and anti-adware software up to date. A broadband connection and an unprotected PC is a bad combination. Not to mention the viruses that can exploit back doors in JPEGs and other commonly exchanged files. A person could be passing on files that are infected without even knowing it. My Anti-virus just recently blocked a Trojan from being loaded when I accessed a website for a railroad museum that I had been to dozens of times before. I sent an e-mail to their webmaster, and sure enough, somehow the web pages had been infected. When the site was downloading, the trojan was coming along with it. So, you never know.
    Dan S.
     
  18. Torsja

    Torsja TrainBoard Member

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    Yes, running without any Antivirus program is risky business. There is a lot off "harmless" sites that get infected with Trojans. And often these sites are hosted by a small armature provider that is not quite up to date on how to protect their servers.

    I wish I could run without any antivirus program because the PC then works much faster with out it. But my data is much more important that to take the chance off a crash.
    And since I'm a computer service man it would be a bit embarrassing if I get infected and started to send spam mail to my customers.

    I have always used the methods off "safe-surfing" practices as Robert describes along with F-Secure Antivirus software. I have never actually been infected by any virus in the last 12-15 years. But F-Secure have stopped some Trojans from websites before I get infected some times. But what many people do wrong is that they have an antivirus program and then think they are 100% protected and can open what ever they want. And they disregard the "safe-surfing" practices and their by can override the antivirus program.

    I can not understand all the customers I have that always seem to get infected even if they have an Antivirus program. In many cases I se that they have an up to date virus definition files by they use a program that is 3-4years old. And that is not god enough. You also need to upgrade the program it self to be sure it can take the known viruses at least. Remember that the "Hackers" usually always is one step ahead off the Antivirus companies.
    And the problem with Norton in my opinion is that it generates allot off warning messages and news messages that pops up al the time in its firewall and the user don't know what all means and just accept everything and in the end get tired off it and turn the hole thing off.
    Their by ending their protection. And the Norton software is taking allot off computer power and makes the system very slow. It also some times blocks common internet tools by it self that most users actually want to have. And some upgrades off this program actually renders the computer useless because off bad upgrade programming off its own program. But its better then nothing thou.
     
  19. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    I do use Zonealarm. It tells me when any program tries to send a packet out of this machine, and asks if I will allow it. I usually only allow single time when installing a new program, so it can get setup, like Flash, or Java. Then I go to the registry and kill all the programs that try to run at startup. I kill all updaters.

    I know my process list too. If I see anything new, I hunt it down and kill it. My computer is fast... very fast, and I run W2K. No need to upgrade to XP or Vista, if everything works fine as is, I mean, I am not in the business of feeding MS Employees just for the sake of new features I don't need, or flashy graphics. Also, I am not a security patch freak either. Patches take away functionality, and slow down a computer.

    About once a month I run Add Aware, and Spybot S&D. For virus checker, I know my computer so well that I can tell if something fishy is going on, and I run Trend Housecall online virus checker.

    In the past 15 years of using MS Windows based PC's I have only actually found 1 virus with a virus checker. I have had a few fishy slowdowns before, and I have the ultimate solution to those... I use PQ Drive Image, and restore the complete C: drive in those situations or crashes. All my data resides on different partitions, so nothing on the C: drive is critical. All data files get backed up to seperate physical local drives, and a remote Ximeta NDAS mirror.

    Why do I hate local virus checker software? It is so irritatingly slow.
     
  20. Torsja

    Torsja TrainBoard Member

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    Sounds like you have it covered Robert. :)
     

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