Error 403 Forbidden (AOL)

[Udderwise]

I can't see any pictures or vids, the odd thumbnail shows but when I click on it I get a 403 Forbidden message. Also I can't download any vids. Can anyone help please

[Frans]

Please specifiy one or more vids you attempted to download.

[Udderwise]

Please specifiy one or more vids you attempted to download.

I am unable to download any vids at all or see any pictures of any sort on the Abby Winters site apart from the free tour.

[Frans]

Did you login and does it say you're logged in the top-right corner? Can you access 'My Account' specifically 'Subscriptions' ?

[Udderwise]

Did you login and does it say you're logged in the top-right corner? Can you access 'My Account' specifically 'Subscriptions' ?

I did log in and my subscription is up to date, until Feb in fact. The AW home page shows no pictures at all just a small red x in the top left corner of where a picture should be, this is the same anywhere on the the site. It has been like this for ten days or so.

[Frans]

Do you see pics like this: http://www.abbywinters.com/image/r_ana_b_vidsample ?? Those are publicly viewable. If you can't see that pic either, can you tell me if you use any sort of proxy service or filtering tool?

[Udderwise]

Do you see pics like this: http://www.abbywinters.com/image/r_ana_b_vidsample ?? Those are publicly viewable. If you can't see that pic either, can you tell me if you use any sort of proxy service or filtering tool?

I can't see that photo. The only service I use is AoL the same as I always have. I don't use a filtering tool. I have not made any changes to my laptop's settings. All I know is that about two weeks ago I started to get the problems that I've been telling you about after years of trouble free membership of AW.

[Frans]

Hmm.. AOL *does* offer proxy servers, which attempt to cache content in order to make it faster. Do you use AOL supplied Internet Explorer ? The problem with proxies is that they can serve old pages, specifically pages with old data which in turn causes you to attempt to get that pic using old and invalid data.

Easiest to test would be for you to get another browser (so you don't have to change your existing one), like Firefox or Opera and make sure those don't use a proxy. Can you do that ?

[Udderwise]

Hmm.. AOL *does* offer proxy servers, which attempt to cache content in order to make it faster. Do you use AOL supplied Internet Explorer ? The problem with proxies is that they can serve old pages, specifically pages with old data which in turn causes you to attempt to get that pic using old and invalid data.

Easiest to test would be for you to get another browser (so you don't have to change your existing one), like Firefox or Opera and make sure those don't use a proxy. Can you do that ?

It all sounds a bit too technical for me I’m afraid. The basic question is why Has the AW site worked for the last number of years and now will not? I have no problem with any other web site no matter what the content. Thanks for trying to help.

[Frans]

It all sounds a bit too technical for me I’m afraid. The basic question is why Has the AW site worked for the last number of years and now will not? I have no problem with any other web site no matter what the content. Thanks for trying to help.

AW switched to a new content-delivery-system about a month ago, that was finished about two weeks ago. The new system does more checks if you're allowed to access the content. Are you using Internet Explorer? I'll talk you through a FireFox install later as needed, it's rather easy to do First some other checks;

When you go to http://www.abbywinters.com/image/r_ana_b_vidsample, can you right-click on the red-cross you get and do 'copy shortcut', then paste that in a reply here?
(it will look like: cdn30.abbywinters.com/content/Ana_B/r_ana_b_vidsample.jpg with lotsa random numbers/chars following, please paste the entire shortcut, don't worry about forum displaying it weirdly)

Secondly, if you refresh http://www.abbywinters.com/image/r_ana_b_vidsample a couple of times (keep control-key pressed and press F5 in browser) it NEVER works for you, right?

[Udderwise]

It all sounds a bit too technical for me I’m afraid. The basic question is why Has the AW site worked for the last number of years and now will not? I have no problem with any other web site no matter what the content. Thanks for trying to help.

AW switched to a new content-delivery-system about a month ago, that was finished about two weeks ago. The new system does more checks if you're allowed to access the content. Are you using Internet Explorer? I'll talk you through a FireFox install later as needed, it's rather easy to do First some other checks;

When you go to http://www.abbywinters.com/image/r_ana_b_vidsample, can you right-click on the red-cross you get and do 'copy shortcut', then paste that in a reply here?
(it will look like: cdn30.abbywinters.com/content/Ana_B/r_ana_b_vidsample.jpg with lotsa random numbers/chars following, please paste the entire shortcut, don't worry about forum displaying it weirdly)

Secondly, if you refresh http://www.abbywinters.com/image/r_ana_b_vidsample a couple of times (keep control-key pressed and press F5 in browser) it NEVER works for you, right?

The result of copy shortcut is;

http://cdn10.abbywinters.com/content...w&e=1357039381

In answer the second item is that nothing happened.

Yes, I am using Internet Explorer 8.

Is anyone else getting this problem? I can't be the only AW member using AoL and IE8 can I?

[Frans]

Yes, I am using Internet Explorer 8.

Is anyone else getting this problem? I can't be the only AW member using AoL and IE8 can I?

I've heard there are more AOL members having this problem, the work-around would be to disable the AOL proxy but the problem is that neither you nor I know how exactly to do that I could try to guess, but I rather not. The easiest and safest test would be to install an alternative browser. Since I have Firefox it would be easiest if you get that one;

Go to http://www.firefox.com (will direct to mozilla.org) follow download instructions. During install choose CUSTOM install, accept all default until you see the option 'make firefox your default browser' you want to turn that OFF. When it asks choose to 'start firefox now' after install. You can import bookmarks from IE if you want but it is not needed, since you'll only use FireFox to browse to one site

When FF starts it will complain that it's not the default browser, in that dialogbox untick 'always check' and answer No to the question itself.

Having done all that, browse to http://www.abbywinters.com/image/gisela_sample and report if you see the picture there.

[Udderwise]

Yes, I am using Internet Explorer 8.

Is anyone else getting this problem? I can't be the only AW member using AoL and IE8 can I?

I've heard there are more AOL members having this problem, the work-around would be to disable the AOL proxy but the problem is that neither you nor I know how exactly to do that I could try to guess, but I rather not. The easiest and safest test would be to install an alternative browser. Since I have Firefox it would be easiest if you get that one;

Go to http://www.firefox.com (will direct to mozilla.org) follow download instructions. During install choose CUSTOM install, accept all default until you see the option 'make firefox your default browser' you want to turn that OFF. When it asks choose to 'start firefox now' after install. You can import bookmarks from IE if you want but it is not needed, since you'll only use FireFox to browse to one site

When FF starts it will complain that it's not the default browser, in that dialogbox untick 'always check' and answer No to the question itself.

Having done all that, browse to http://www.abbywinters.com/image/gisela_sample and report if you see the picture there.

All sorted. Thanks a lot.

[Frans]

All sorted. Thanks a lot.

Good to hear! So you can view content using Firefox but not via (AOL supplied) Internet Explorer?

That points to a proxy-setting in IE. You could ask AOL customer-support how to add an exclusion to your proxy configuration.

Happy viewing, you have some catching up to do !

[Frans]

Note: moved the speed-download 403-forbidden issue to it's own thread http://forums.abbywinters.com/vbulle...ad.php?t=15176