XP firewall blocking access to a trusted site

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

I've has Service Pack 2 for a long time, but recently one certain site is
unaccessible because (the admin people at the site claim) that my XP firewall
is causing access problems. The site is betfair.com, and is a sound
worldwide site.

My browser goes through the 'Opening site....' actions, and then finishes
with 'Done' in the bottom right corner, but the screen remains blank (no
error message, no nothing). Does anyone have any idea why, or what settings
I can change to get at this site?

Help please! Any replies much appreciated - I'm a seriously PC-illiterate
person!

Thanks and regards,

Niall O'Hare

 

[Malke]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Niall OHare wrote:

> I've has Service Pack 2 for a long time, but recently one certain site
> is unaccessible because (the admin people at the site claim) that my
> XP firewall
> is causing access problems. The site is betfair.com, and is a sound
> worldwide site.
>
> My browser goes through the 'Opening site....' actions, and then
> finishes with 'Done' in the bottom right corner, but the screen
> remains blank (no
> error message, no nothing). Does anyone have any idea why, or what
> settings I can change to get at this site?
>
> Help please! Any replies much appreciated - I'm a seriously
> PC-illiterate person!

Thanks to your excellent, descriptive post - I have the answer for you.
I went to the site and it opened a popup window. You have popups
blocked, so look under IE>Tools>Popup Blocker>Settings and add the site
as allowed to do popups.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Malke,

You are a top man! This sorted things out perfectly - you have just brought
days of frustration to an end.

Thanks - much apprecaited.

Niall

"Malke" wrote:

> Niall OHare wrote:
>
> > I've has Service Pack 2 for a long time, but recently one certain site
> > is unaccessible because (the admin people at the site claim) that my
> > XP firewall
> > is causing access problems. The site is betfair.com, and is a sound
> > worldwide site.
> >
> > My browser goes through the 'Opening site....' actions, and then
> > finishes with 'Done' in the bottom right corner, but the screen
> > remains blank (no
> > error message, no nothing). Does anyone have any idea why, or what
> > settings I can change to get at this site?
> >
> > Help please! Any replies much appreciated - I'm a seriously
> > PC-illiterate person!
>
> Thanks to your excellent, descriptive post - I have the answer for you.
> I went to the site and it opened a popup window. You have popups
> blocked, so look under IE>Tools>Popup Blocker>Settings and add the site
> as allowed to do popups.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
>

 

[Malke]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Niall OHare wrote:

> Malke,
>
> You are a top man! This sorted things out perfectly - you have just
> brought days of frustration to an end.
>
> Thanks - much apprecaited.
>
No, I'm the top woman ;-) and you are entirely welcome. Thanks for
taking the time to let me know it worked.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Niall,

Are you using IE-SPYAD ? IE-SpyAd puts this site to Restricted Zone.

-------------------------------------------------------
; IE-SPYAD: Internet Explorer Restricted Sites List
;
; Copyright (c) 2000-2004 Eric L. Howes
; Contact: <>
; Download from: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/
-------------------------------------------------------

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\betfair.com]
"*"=dword:00000004

FYI

--
Ramesh, Microsoft MVP
Windows XP Shell/User
http://windowsxp.mvps.org


"Niall OHare" <Niall OHare@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news2D2A2E1-212D-488A-945B-BD32D8DB756E@microsoft.com...
I've has Service Pack 2 for a long time, but recently one certain site is
unaccessible because (the admin people at the site claim) that my XP firewall
is causing access problems. The site is betfair.com, and is a sound
worldwide site.

My browser goes through the 'Opening site....' actions, and then finishes
with 'Done' in the bottom right corner, but the screen remains blank (no
error message, no nothing). Does anyone have any idea why, or what settings
I can change to get at this site?

Help please! Any replies much appreciated - I'm a seriously PC-illiterate
person!

Thanks and regards,

Niall O'Hare

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Whoops - must be the natural chauvanist in me!!

You are the top woman, but.... the problem seems to have reoccured. I used
the site the night I read your reply, with no problem. I tried again today,
but it seems to be doing what it was before (I've checked where you
suggested, and the site remains in the list of allowed sites, so something
else appears to have gone awry). Any other ideas? Please? (I won't call
you a man again!!)

I also checked the reply from the other person (Ramesh) - although a little
technical for me, I don't think I am running that IE-SPYAD that he/she
mentions.

Thanks again for your help.

Niall

"Malke" wrote:

> Niall OHare wrote:
>
> > Malke,
> >
> > You are a top man! This sorted things out perfectly - you have just
> > brought days of frustration to an end.
> >
> > Thanks - much apprecaited.
> >
> No, I'm the top woman ;-) and you are entirely welcome. Thanks for
> taking the time to let me know it worked.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
>

 

[Malke]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Niall OHare wrote:

> Whoops - must be the natural chauvanist in me!!
>
> You are the top woman, but.... the problem seems to have reoccured.
> I used
> the site the night I read your reply, with no problem. I tried again
> today, but it seems to be doing what it was before (I've checked where
> you suggested, and the site remains in the list of allowed sites, so
> something
> else appears to have gone awry). Any other ideas? Please? (I won't
> call you a man again!!)
>
> I also checked the reply from the other person (Ramesh) - although a
> little technical for me, I don't think I am running that IE-SPYAD that
> he/she mentions.
>
Do you have any antispyware programs running? I don't mean something
like Ad-aware, but rather IE protection from Spybot S&D or SpySweeper
or the beta MS Antispyware program. Since it is a betting site, if you
have some sort of browser protection program running it might stop you.
Here are two things to try:

1. Start>Run> msconfig [enter]

See what is on the Startup page. Anything that looks similar to what I
mentioned above?

2. Try with a different browser. I'm assuming you're using Internet
Explorer. Download and install Firefox from:

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/all.html

Make sure you get the Windows version! Once you've got Firefox
installed, see what happens when you go to the site.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Malke,

Thanks for your ongoing help.

Re 1 below - no, it doesn't look as if anything similar to what you mention
is on the list in that section.

Re 2 - I've downloaded the Firefox browser, and the format of the problem
seems a little different but the same end result happens. When I type the
web address in the box at the top, the bottom left of the browser starts with
'Transferring data from www.betfair.com...', then after maybe 20 seconds an
'Alert' pop-up box appears with 'The operation timed out when attempting to
contact cache.betfair.com'. If I press 'OK' on this box, the bottom left
says 'Connecting to cache.betfair.com...', but the exact same box pops up
about 20 seconds later. And so it goes on....

I downloaded a 'Deepnet' explorer as well, but no joy there either.

I've used the web quite a bit over the last few days, and this is the only
site on which this happens. Unfortunately, it's also the one I'm most keen
to get at!

Thanks once again for your very useful advice.

Niall

"Malke" wrote:

> Niall OHare wrote:
>
> > Whoops - must be the natural chauvanist in me!!
> >
> > You are the top woman, but.... the problem seems to have reoccured.
> > I used
> > the site the night I read your reply, with no problem. I tried again
> > today, but it seems to be doing what it was before (I've checked where
> > you suggested, and the site remains in the list of allowed sites, so
> > something
> > else appears to have gone awry). Any other ideas? Please? (I won't
> > call you a man again!!)
> >
> > I also checked the reply from the other person (Ramesh) - although a
> > little technical for me, I don't think I am running that IE-SPYAD that
> > he/she mentions.
> >
> Do you have any antispyware programs running? I don't mean something
> like Ad-aware, but rather IE protection from Spybot S&D or SpySweeper
> or the beta MS Antispyware program. Since it is a betting site, if you
> have some sort of browser protection program running it might stop you.
> Here are two things to try:
>
> 1. Start>Run> msconfig [enter]
>
> See what is on the Startup page. Anything that looks similar to what I
> mentioned above?
>
> 2. Try with a different browser. I'm assuming you're using Internet
> Explorer. Download and install Firefox from:
>
> http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/all.html
>
> Make sure you get the Windows version! Once you've got Firefox
> installed, see what happens when you go to the site.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
>

 

[Malke]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Niall OHare wrote:

> Malke,
>
> Thanks for your ongoing help.
>
> Re 1 below - no, it doesn't look as if anything similar to what you
> mention is on the list in that section.
>
> Re 2 - I've downloaded the Firefox browser, and the format of the
> problem
> seems a little different but the same end result happens. When I type
> the web address in the box at the top, the bottom left of the browser
> starts with 'Transferring data from www.betfair.com...', then after
> maybe 20 seconds an 'Alert' pop-up box appears with 'The operation
> timed out when attempting to
> contact cache.betfair.com'. If I press 'OK' on this box, the bottom
> left says 'Connecting to cache.betfair.com...', but the exact same box
> pops up
> about 20 seconds later. And so it goes on....
>
> I downloaded a 'Deepnet' explorer as well, but no joy there either.
>
> I've used the web quite a bit over the last few days, and this is the
> only
> site on which this happens. Unfortunately, it's also the one I'm most
> keen to get at!
>
Well, it wasn't very useful advice because it didn't get the job done. I
wonder why you were able to connect once and then not again. Try
emptying your Temporary Internet Files (from IE's Tools>Internet
Options). Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm at a loss. The site does act rather
strange for me in that I can get there fine, but am then unable to
maximize the page. I'm using Mozilla on Linux, so if the site is trying
to download something unwanted (I do see a link for downloading a
toolbar), it can't of course.

Perhaps you could email the webmaster or call them. Since you can't get
there, here is the information copied from their page:

For betting and account enquires: info@betfair.com
For all marketing enquiries: marketing@betfair.com
For all employment enquiries: jobs@betfair.com
For all other business enquires: corporate@betfair.com

Alternatively, please telephone / fax Betfair directly:

Telephone Fax
From North America 011-44-208-834-8060
From UK 0870 0110 444 0870 0110 555
Ireland 1-800 944 000
Australia 1-800 759 354
International +44 208 834 8060

Please send all written correspondence to:

Betfair
PO Box 34467
London
W6 9WS
United Kingdom

So, I'm sorry I couldn't solve your problem permanently, but I hope this
helps a bit.

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Malke,

You've been a star - I'll try the people in charge of the website again, and
see if they can put it right. Otherwise I'll go gamble my hard-earned cash
elsewhere!

Thanks for all your help - much appreciated.

Niall

"Malke" wrote:

> Niall OHare wrote:
>
> > Malke,
> >
> > Thanks for your ongoing help.
> >
> > Re 1 below - no, it doesn't look as if anything similar to what you
> > mention is on the list in that section.
> >
> > Re 2 - I've downloaded the Firefox browser, and the format of the
> > problem
> > seems a little different but the same end result happens. When I type
> > the web address in the box at the top, the bottom left of the browser
> > starts with 'Transferring data from www.betfair.com...', then after
> > maybe 20 seconds an 'Alert' pop-up box appears with 'The operation
> > timed out when attempting to
> > contact cache.betfair.com'. If I press 'OK' on this box, the bottom
> > left says 'Connecting to cache.betfair.com...', but the exact same box
> > pops up
> > about 20 seconds later. And so it goes on....
> >
> > I downloaded a 'Deepnet' explorer as well, but no joy there either.
> >
> > I've used the web quite a bit over the last few days, and this is the
> > only
> > site on which this happens. Unfortunately, it's also the one I'm most
> > keen to get at!
> >
> Well, it wasn't very useful advice because it didn't get the job done. I
> wonder why you were able to connect once and then not again. Try
> emptying your Temporary Internet Files (from IE's Tools>Internet
> Options). Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm at a loss. The site does act rather
> strange for me in that I can get there fine, but am then unable to
> maximize the page. I'm using Mozilla on Linux, so if the site is trying
> to download something unwanted (I do see a link for downloading a
> toolbar), it can't of course.
>
> Perhaps you could email the webmaster or call them. Since you can't get
> there, here is the information copied from their page:
>
> For betting and account enquires: info@betfair.com
> For all marketing enquiries: marketing@betfair.com
> For all employment enquiries: jobs@betfair.com
> For all other business enquires: corporate@betfair.com
>
> Alternatively, please telephone / fax Betfair directly:
>
> Telephone Fax
> From North America 011-44-208-834-8060
> From UK 0870 0110 444 0870 0110 555
> Ireland 1-800 944 000
> Australia 1-800 759 354
> International +44 208 834 8060
>
> Please send all written correspondence to:
>
> Betfair
> PO Box 34467
> London
> W6 9WS
> United Kingdom
>
> So, I'm sorry I couldn't solve your problem permanently, but I hope this
> helps a bit.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
> Elephant Boy Computers
> www.elephantboycomputers.com
> "Don't Panic!"
>

 

[Malke]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Niall OHare wrote:

> Malke,
>
> You've been a star - I'll try the people in charge of the website
> again, and
> see if they can put it right. Otherwise I'll go gamble my hard-earned
> cash elsewhere!
>
> Thanks for all your help - much appreciated.
>
> Niall
>

You are most welcome, Niall. If I gambled, I would frankly gamble
elsewhere because it really bothers me that their website misbehaves so
badly. There must be other legitimate online gambling sites (I
suppose).

Good luck and have safe fun,

Malke
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"