Problems Accessing the New Board?

[Raineypark]

Oh, give me a freaking break!.........shrieking at me like I'M in charge of this stuff.

The one you suggested has now been installed.

Happy now?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

The one you suggested has now been installed.

Happy now?

VERY.

You'll thank me for shrieking once you've seen just how many attempts to probe your computer it blocks.

[MsCriseyde]

You'll thank me for shrieking once you've seen just how many attempts to probe your computer it blocks.

Of course, if you had Norton Personal Firewall, then you could also block MB's nefarious attempts to access your pc via the DS Forums home page. ;-)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Of course, if you had Norton Personal Firewall, then you could also block MB's nefarious attempts to access your pc via the DS Forums home page. ;-)

Hey, that's not funny.

And BTW, have you ever checked the Symantec support pages for NPF? I browsed through them for Patti last night (trying to see if I could find a solution for her problem) and couldn't believe how many problems people can encounter using it. [shkdy]

[Connie]

You'll thank me for shrieking once you've seen just how many attempts to probe your computer it blocks.

So...how does someone access your computer?  AND, what do they do once they're in there??  Can they take files, or delete them, or can they put files on there??

If someone attempts to "probe" my computer, this is the screen they get.... LOL

[Mysterious Benefactor]

So...how does someone access your computer?

They can plant Trojan horses, keyboard sniffers, all sorts of programs that might report back to them over the Internet. There are a lot of twisted minds out there.

AND, what do they do once they're in there??  Can they take files, or delete them, or can they put files on there??

If your computer is vulnerable enough and allows them enough access, they might do just about anything. Gain access to your passwords and credit card numbers (if you've foolishly had that sort of info saved by your browser or AOL) - they can even disguise themselves as you and use your computer to attack another computer system, making it very hard for the attack to be traced back to them.

[MsCriseyde]

And BTW, have you ever checked the Symantec support pages for NPF? I browsed through them for Patti last night (trying to see if I could find a solution for her problem) and couldn't believe how many problems people can encounter using it. [shkdy]

Yep, seen all of that. I've not encountered any problems using it except with this site, other than the fact that the pop-up ad blocker can mess up a few web sites that offer video, but it's easy enough to turn it off temporarily.

ZoneAlarm's firewall also has its share of complaints:

http://www.computergripes.com/ZoneAlarm.html

I have never seen the Norton software block access to a web page the way it does with the DS Forums home page. Face it, MB, the board is just special in more ways than any of us realized. :-)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

ZoneAlarm's firewall also has its share of complaints

Almost all of those are for version 3. I upgraded to 3 when it was first released, didn't like it, and almost immediately went back to using 2.6. With 3, the core code of ZA has been rewritten to work best with WinXP (compatibility with Win95 has been completely dropped), and something about the new core wreaked havoc on my computer whenever I tried to play MP3s. But I've never had even the slightest problem with the way 2.6 works. And as I showed, I certainly can't complain with the results.

However, once I completely switch over to running Linux as my main operating sysytem, I won't being using ZA anymore (except in the rare occassion when I'll want to check something in Windows). ZA doesn't offer a Linux version, and I'll miss using it regularly. But Linux comes equipped with several different firewalls of its own to choose from.

Face it, MB, the board is just special in more ways than any of us realized. :-)

Actually, YaBB released a major upgrade last week. I've downloaded it, but I haven't even had a chance to check out what changes they've made or whether or not I'll even want to install them.

Stay tuned...

[Connie]

Almost all of those are for version 3. I upgraded to 3 when it was first released, didn't like it, and almost immediately went back to using 2.6.

MB...
I went and downloaded Zone Alarm and installed it as per your suggestion.  (I ALWAYS follow your suggestions)  Uh oh.....lol.
It's version 3.1 something.  Am I going to experience problems with this version??

-CLC

[Mysterious Benefactor]

It's version 3.1 something.  Am I going to experience problems with this version??

That will depend entirely on the software you might run on your computer. I didn't like 3.0, but 3.1 could be different.

ZA 2.6 runs very smoothly on Win98, so if you think you're experiencing a problem, uninstall 3.1 and then download and install 2.6. So far as I know it's still available on sites like CNet and PC Magazine.

[Patti Feinberg]

And BTW, have you ever checked the Symantec support pages for NPF? I browsed through them for Patti last night (trying to see if I could find a solution for her problem) and couldn't believe how many problems people can encounter using it. [shkdy]

MB...in a nice, slow pace (in American, NOT English!), can you explain WHAT this means?
I'm trying to utilize my $50 worth  of Norton...not too well (it keeps telling me I don't have e-mail blocked, I read their #$^ directions, not what they say).
If I ADDED the aforementioned firewall (yours), would it counteract with Norcaught in a bit of line and now, me and stereo and okay, I did not type 'and stereo and okay'.

Patti...who's confused, sick & mother of sick Tommy
I quit

[MsCriseyde]

MB,

I've found the root of the problem with accessing the forums' home page and Norton Personal Firewall 2003. This might be useful for tracking down the root of any other problems folks are encountering accessing the main page.

By default, NPF is set up to block information about previously visited sites. If this operation is permitted for the DS Forums, then the home page is accessible either by entering the main URL or using the various navigation links throughout the site. (Having to wait for the initial login time to expire is no longer an issue.)

For an NPF user to configure this, s/he needs to open NPF, click on Options and Personal Firewall. Then click on the Web Content tab. On the bottom left, click Add Site, and enter www.dsboards.com. Then, with www.dsboards.com highlighted in the list of sites on the left, uncheck the box under "Information about visited sites" marked "Use default settings" and select the circle next to Permit. Then click OK in the bottom right.

Here's a screen grab:


Do I win a prize? ;-)

[Mysterious Benefactor]

By default, NPF is set up to block information about previously visited sites. If this operation is permitted for the DS Forums, then the home page is accessible either by entering the main URL or using the various navigation links throughout the site.

Ah! Now the problem you were having with NPF makes perfect sense. The Perl script that creates the home page has a rountine that internally checks to see if someone has entered it using http://www.dsboards.com/, http://www.dsboards.com or another page on the forum. If NPF was blocking your browser from reporting the referring page, the error rountine would have triggered and kicked you out.

Do I win a prize?

Well, maybe we can award you a lifetime's supply of Lee Press-On Nails and Turtle Wax. That would be two prizes.

[Patti Feinberg]

I tried to do this following MsCryseyed (always spell that wrong!)'s instructions...maybe (shoot, PROBABLY) did it wrong, cause as soon as I did it...got my Perl error message...pas de Patti

[MsCriseyde]

Hmm . . . ok, so I don't have it all figured out. I've been happily using the forum without a problem since I reconfigured Norton Personal Firewall until a few minutes ago when I got this message trying to access the home page:

Untrapped Error:
./Sources/BoardIndex.pl did not return a true value at /home/virtual/site25/fst/var/www/perl/yabb/YaBB.pl line 234.

The only way I managed to get in here was by clicking on New Postings and doing a search for this board. Home doesn't work for me again.