[RESOLVED] FF Causes a Access Denied Error

[doysl]

I got it!
In my case the reason is Ad Muncher software. Ad Muncher runs in tray and blocks all ads on the Internet. I've closed Ad Muncher and the sites opens well. Now, I'm looking for the way to adjust Ad Muncher so it won't prevent FF from opening the sites.

[gypsy63]

Slava: I don't have anything running in my system tray but my anti-spyware, anti-virus and cannon printer. But I think the information you found for me about the domain info may be of help to me. I will certainly trying calling them about this problem! Being the weekend I don't know if there is anyone to talk to, but if not, I will call Monday when someone would be there. Thank you so very much for that information. I feel now I may be getting on the right path. (Hopefully!) Oh, by the way, the only blocker I have is Ad-Plus and I had disabled it and still couldn't open the site, so that was not my problem.

SpywareDr: Thanks for going to all that trouble to try and solve my problem. Since you tried so many different versions of FF and was able to get to both of those sites, then it really is not a FF problem. I have a real feeling that it has to do with the information that Slava found out about the domain because it effects both my husband's and my computer--and we don't use the same software, etc. on our computers! I will post back here and let everyone know after I get in touch with the people with this domain. Since this domain is originating out of Augusta, Ga. that makes me even more suspicious since that is the area I am trying to access when I go to the Augusta Chronicle.
Thanks to all,

[gypsy63]

There was no answer at Morris DigitalWorks, LLC so I will try calling them Monday. But in the mean time I am going to email the Administrative Contact, Technical Contact email address that was included in the information that Slava found for me. One way or another I should get an answer from someone.

[gypsy63]

This morning I called the number that Slava provided for me to Morris DigitalWorks, LLC & still could get no answer. So next I put in a Google search for the company itself. I finally found their web site & it provided other phone numbers. I clicked on the link for "support." When I reached a tech at that number and explained my problem he said I needed to call customer service at the Augusta Chronicle--because they did not take care of customer problems there, only company problems with their network. I was so frustrated and so irate that I explained that the Augusta Chronicle was the first place I called and how they put me off on another company that had nothing to do with the site itself. I explained about all the hours and days of talking to different companies, including the hours we spent with tech support with our ISP. He finally got interested enough to try and help me. I told him if only I knew exactly the right person to talk to about this problem. He said he was going to put me on hold while he talked to some others about my problem. He then came back on line and said that some of the techs were already working on my problem--they had gotten my email from over the weekend. I had given him my IP address before he talked to the other techs. He told me that he gave them my IP address and they said that there was a "vulnerability" issue with FF and that was why I was being blocked. I told him about how others on this site had installed the same version of FF on different computers and that they had no problem accessing the Augusta Chronicle. He said but they did not also have my IP address--that they don't use the same ISP that I do. I told him that our ISP tech could not find the problem and he said that it was because it was not a problem for our ISP to fix. It sounded to me as if Morris DigitalWorks, LLC was blocking my ISP and that it was because it was a combination of both the ISP I use, plus the new version of FF. We have Hughes Net Satellite for our ISP--the only Internet service we can get where I live. Anyway, he said in the mean time to use either IE or Chrome to access the site and that as soon as they fixed the problem with FF & our ISP they would call me up and let me know. I hope it is not longer than a day because that makes me a prisoner of my home, waiting for their call. Will post back as soon as they call me and tell me anything.

[SpywareDr]

Why can't you use IE, Chrome or some other web browser?

[jdc2000]

Possibly related to this issue:

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...67#post1391967

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/f...68?tag=nl.e539

[gypsy63]

SpywareDr. I have not used IE in 10 years. I started using FF when I discovered that FF was less venerable to viruses, and etc. than MS products. As far as Chrome goes, I tried it for a while and just did not like it. I also tried Opera, don't know if that is even around anymore, and did not like it either. FF was the only browser that I really liked and have stuck with it ever since. If I just have to go to the Augusta Chronicle while my problem is being worked on by Morris DigitalWorks, LLC, then I will use IE even though I don't like it. I hate not being able to read the local news, but can live without it until my problem is solved. The only reason I knew I could not access the site was when I tried to go to the site to look up an Obit of a friend's husband who had just died. Since then, I have discovered if I put in a Google search just for the Augusta Chronicle's Obit, I am allowed on that page--also the job's site. Other than that, it won't allow me on any other part of the newspaper. Even though at the top of the page of the Obit page it has a place where you can sign in, it won't even allow me to try and sign in. Instantly when I try to sign in it takes me right to that error message.

jdc2000: I tried to follow the directions from one of the links you provided to disable the tab thing, but the directions were not real clear and I was not able to do it. I first typed in "config" into the "Run" box and it gave me a message saying I had not been given permission to open this folder and did I want to continue. I clicked "yes' and a folder opened that had nothing to do with the tabs (or so I think). Then I tried to type in "newtab" and was told it was not a valid command. So I have no idea of what I was suppose to do and where I was suppose to do it at??

The following is the last email I got from the company last night:

Mrs. Hughes –

I have escalated your report of issues accessing the Chronicle website to my web hosting team. However, we noted that the IP address you provided is your internal IP address, whereas, we need a public facing IP in order to appropriately troubleshoot and resolve your issue.

At your convenience, can you please visit the website http://www.whatismyip.com/ and report the IP that website reports on its page?

This will help expedite our investigation.

Thank you and best regards,

Beth Bradley
Director of Technology Support
Morris Corporate Technology

I have no idea why she addressed me as "Mrs. Hughes" as that is no where near my name, unless she was thinking about my ISP which is Hughes Net. I did go to the link she provided & when I got to the page my IP address was displayed in the middle of the page--so now she has that information to pass along. Now I am just waiting to see what will be done before I start calling the Augusta Chronicle and complaining and telling them they need to refund my money for my last payment since I have not been able to access their site.

Thanks for all the suggestions,

[jdc2000]

If the web site is giving you the error message because you are using a version of Firefox that they consider insecure, there isn't much you can do except use a different browser. There are some sites that require IE to access them. As long as you are using a decent antivirus program, you should be OK, especially with sites like the ones you are having issues with. Either Mozilla or the sites will eventually have to address the problem, but who knows how long that might take.

[General Winters]

I wonder if this problem could be solved by getting your version of Firefox to pretend to be a different browser ?

When a browser accesses a website, it identifies itself by sending a User Agent String, but this string can be changed.

Read http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/18519...ng-in-firefox/

The addon only provides a few browsers you can choose to pretend to be, but you can import more, see link at bottom of page.

If you import the current list you get loads of browsers to choose from, and can even pretend to be on a Mac, Mobile or a Linux machine.

Attachment 10549

[gypsy63]

jdc: SpwareDr has already tried my version on 3 different PCs and every one of them were able to go to the site that I can't access. So I have a feeling it is not just the version that I have that is causing the problem. But thanks for thinking of it.

General Winter: I like your idea and will try it out in the morning when I get up. I had to go out of town to get groceries so I was late getting home and late getting on my PC. It is after midnight now so I will just wait until morning to try it. I hope it works because I really would like to keep using FF. Thanks for the suggestion and I will post back after I either try it or I get some results from Morris Corporate Technology --which ever comes first.
Night all,

[gypsy63]

General Winter: Your solution worked perfectly!! I changed my browser to fake IE 8 and went straight to the Augusta Chronicle with no problem! I was going to download the other fake browsers to the original program, but could not figure out how to do this. I clicked on the link, Direct, thinking it was going to just download the other fake agents but instead it took me to a page that listed a lot of browsers, with their strings I guess. I don't know how to do this, never have added and strings to anything before & was not sure how to do it.

Now I am still waiting for that company to get back to me about fixing my original problem--it's the least they can do since I have paid to get on the site. Will post back if they ever do get the problem fixed--one way or another.

But thanks a million for the fake browser program!

[gypsy63]

Just got off the phone with Beth Bradley Director of Technology Support and she explained exactly why I had this problem--why this happened. She said that some hackers had been using FF through Hughes Net to hack into their site--this started happening she said about 3 weeks ago. She stated this had happened before but it was with earlier versions but now they are using the new version of FF and the traffic is coming through Hughes Net. She said her techs are now aware of my problem and realize that I am a legitimate user & is trying to fix the problem for me. So I am finally satisfied that someone is really trying to fix this for me. I will post back if & when they do fix it. So it really was a combination of my using FF with the use of my ISP. No wonder that others were able to go to the Augusta Chronicle with my same version of FF--because they did not have Hughes Net as their ISP.

OBTW, she also told me that tech support for Hughes Net would not necessarily know about this problem because it was a security problem and not a tech problem.

[doysl]

Great to know it's fixed by faking.
I believe it would be a nice idea to let the Morris DigitalWorks, LLC specialists know about the solution suggested by General Winters. That may help them in search of the reason and provide a better service next time.
To be honest, I though the topic will die down after a while, but it's resolved! Well done.

[SpywareDr]

--it's the least they can do since I have paid to get on the site.

I do agree that they "should" but, they don't have to:

The Augusta Chronicle > Terms of Service

...
USE OF AUGUSTACHRONICLE.COM IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. ALL CONTENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE."
...
YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY, DEFEND AND HOLD HARMLESS, AUGUSTACHRONICLE.COM AND MORRIS, ... FROM ANY AND ALL CLAIMS ... RELATING TO ANY ALLEGATION REGARDING: (1) YOUR USE OF AUGUSTACHRONICLE.COM;
...

[General Winters]

Glad to see it worked.

To add the other browsers, from http://techpatterns.com/forums/about304.html , right click the green direct download link and select save link as.



Then save the file, useragentswitcher.xml to the desktop or your download folder, where ever you can find it again.

Then in firefox, open up the user agent addon. click User Agent Switcher, and then Options.

From the new page that open click Import and select the useragentswitcher.xml file you downloaded earlier.