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        Atkin admin >> Tech >> Help request - firewalls and routers
        
(Message started by: Leslie Moss on Today at 09:34)

Title: Help request - firewalls and routers
Post by Leslie Moss on Today at 09:34

This is somewhat off-topic as I haven't had problems with this particular site, but knowing the technical savvy of many of the Voices I am appealing for assistance.

I run a home ethernet network using an ADSL modem/router (Belkin). Most of the time it works fine. However, every week or so certain sites get blocked - that is to say, the browser times out when trying to access the site. The BBC site is one, and so is Wikipedia. In the latter case it's very strange, cos although I can get onto the site, no pictures download to the webpage even if the icon is double-clicked and the page refreshed. I can unblock these sites by restarting the router.

It's not a browser problem cos it happens whichever browser (IE, Firefox or Opera) I use, and it's not a PC problem cos it happens to all the PCs connected to the network.

I infer that something odd is happening with the firewall, but haven't a clue as to what that might be.

Any ideas anyone?

Leslie

Title: Re: Help request - firewalls and routers
Post by Kevin Cryan on Today at 13:57

Leslie,

I'm less of an expert than you, but it does sound to me like a firewall problem.

This is the kind of question that Jack Schofield deals with very well in his column in the IT pages of each Thursday's edition of The Guardian.

What you do is send your question (or comment), giving as much detail as possible, - what firewall you are using would be good - to Jack.Schofield@guardian.co.uk. I have a feeling that he deals with all questions sent to him, and not the ones he publishes in the paper, or on his Ask Jack blog. The Ask Jack blog, incidentially, is to be found on the Guardian Unlimited site.

Kevin Cryan

PS. Have you tried Google? It's always worth a try. A question like "My Zone Lab (or whatever it is) firewall prevents me from doing this that or the other" can very often find you lots of people who have had help in dealing with similar problems.