Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community (https://thetfp.com/tfp/)
-   General Discussion (https://thetfp.com/tfp/general-discussion/)
-   -   Click here if you can't connect to the TFP (https://thetfp.com/tfp/general-discussion/137119-click-here-if-you-cant-connect-tfp.html)

Halx 07-01-2008 06:24 AM

Click here if you can't connect to the TFP
 
Here's a short story: (Skip to the end if you just want to get to the chase.)

I moved into my new apartment on Saturday. The same day, I had cable and internet installed. Naturally, I immediately plugged in my laptop and headed for the TFP. I was slightly curious when I could not connect to the site though. I tested other sites to see if I was actually connected and they worked. I tested a few porn sites to see if it could be content filtering, but I saw the boobs. I tested the rest of my favorites and I could connect to each one with lightning speed. It appeared that I could reach every site on the internet EXCEPT THE ONE I OWN!

I then tried to connect to the TFP on my iPhone. I was connected to the WiFi through my phone, so I figured it was a valid triangulation point. I connected just fine through the phone. Hmm. I thought it was just my laptop at that point. I suddenly couldn't wait to unpack my tower. (That sometimes has other connotations.)

Just last night, I finally got around to setting up my computer and immediately tried connecting to the TFP. No dice. My wife could not connect on her computer either. The plot thickens. Well, not really... it actually narrows because now I can deduce a few things and nail down the culprit.

I call up tech support for my ISP and I cut to the chase. After some consultation with their superior, the tech support agent points me in the direction of the router that was provided by them.

This is a Linksys cable modem/router/WiFi access point. It also has a built-in firewall. Now let me tell you something: unless you are running an e-commerce website, firewalls are USELESS. They give you the piece of mind of protecting you from evil nasty hackers, but the truth is that they just protect you from yourself. If you are a decently intelligent internet user then you'll never need a home firewall, let alone an anti-virus program. I've never had either and I'm still batting 1.000.

ANYWAYS, the firewall was enabled. I disabled it and VOILA! I could connect.

The moral of the story is: firewalls are useless and prevent you from accessing the best site on the internet.

In other news, I'm trying to figure out what it is exactly about the TFP that prevents firewalls from letting traffic through. As soon as I figure that out, I will fix it. For the time being... if you can't reach the TFP, I hope this message reaches you somehow.

Lasereth 07-01-2008 06:32 AM

Holy cow that's really weird how it just blocks TFP.

dlish 07-01-2008 06:46 AM

maybe its the government ban catching up to u halx.

one day im expecting a blackout myself...but for the time being im glad im still here

MexicanOnABike 07-01-2008 06:59 AM

I have a few forums and randomly, they will be blocked. I have to reset my router and reset my net conection. then, if i'm lucky, it's back. stupid net!

snowy 07-01-2008 07:07 AM

I've never had that problem with my router--or anyone else's, for that matter! Lucky me. :p

Manic_Skafe 07-01-2008 07:46 AM

Well I guess that'll teach you not to move again.

World's King 07-01-2008 07:55 AM

It could be the porn... :D

Crack 07-01-2008 08:27 AM

I blame the Subservient Chicken
http://www.nostatic.com/viral/files/...entChicken.jpg

ngdawg 07-01-2008 09:02 AM

Yea, I've found firewalls to be more trouble than they're worth-antivirus software as well.
My boss here, who fancies himself a geek, keeps asking me if I installed Macafee on my pc. Nope and never will....
Now, anti-spyware-yep, got it. But only idiots who open any and all emails and/or solicitations and unknown warez sites run a risk of getting a virus.

At school, chats were blocked, but I almost always was able to get into TFP chat during class.

Seer666 07-01-2008 12:26 PM

Am I the only that thogut "how am I going to click this if I can't connect"? That is weird on the firewall though. Good luck figuring it out

Sion 07-01-2008 01:26 PM

that's a strange tale and I have no idea what's behind it, but I don't think encouraging people not to use firewalls is a good idea. I used ZoneAlarm for years and never had trouble connecting to this or any other site. I now use the built in fw that comes with WinXP and have never had an issue.

As for the protection that a firewall provides, consider this: back in 01 when I first got ZoneAlarm, I had it set to give a warning pop-up whenever any unauthorized attempt to access my computer occurred. by the end of that first day, I had disabled the pop-up, as it was going off about every 10 or 15 minutes. Yes, that's right....multiple times per hour. Most of the time, these unwanted access attempts were just random port scans being conducted by hacker bots. You know...looking for unprotected computers to invade and possibly infect with a virus or keylogger, or steal financial information.

Now I will grant you that safe net habits are your best protection against most threats, but it is still my opinion that a firewall is a necessity.

Martian 07-01-2008 01:39 PM

Windows XP doesn't come with a firewall. It says it's a firewall, but it's really just a packet filter with delusions of grandeur.

It's true that your average home user will probably be okay without a firewall. Me, I'd rather have it just to be on the safe side. If properly configured, it shouldn't cause any problems.

I don't use AV software, but I don't have to. Most users should probably have that as well.

Sion 07-01-2008 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martian
Windows XP doesn't come with a firewall. It says it's a firewall, but it's really just a packet filter with delusions of grandeur.

hmm...news to me. But thats ok, because I'm also behind a hardware firewall thats built into my router. :thumbsup:

Redlemon 07-02-2008 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seer666
Am I the only that thogut "how am I going to click this if I can't connect"?

You will be able to read the Google cache of this page, however.

grumpyolddude 07-02-2008 06:14 PM

I've used Zone Alarm, it never blocked TFP. Dumped when I got a router that had a built in firewall. Still never blocked.

At work, we cower behind a Sonic Wall. It has caused some strange issues, but TFP has never been blocked there, either.

I've never used a cable provider, but my mother's house has WOW cable. I can get TFP there as well.

Freakish, Halx. Glad they could work it out for you.

fatmanforprez 09-08-2008 06:56 PM

Well, I am going to make a whole lot of assumptions and mix them with anecdotal evidence to say that i have a theory. Some background, I used to be a phone tech for a living and now I pretend to be a "Network Engineer".

Back when i was doing the 20 hardest calls that my brand took in any given day I would get about 1 call a week from a guy who had a site on a coloc. It was ALWAYS his own site that he could not reach.

To get to the punch line the problem was invariably that the web farm they had contracted their site out to had a bad habit of changing the TCP source port, without either dumbing the problem down or getting into techno-babble, this is bad form. SPI on the router would drop the connection (as it was designed to do and normally should do) and they had a problem with only their site.

The solution, disable SPI.

Mister Coaster 06-06-2009 08:29 AM

Sorry to dig up an old topic, but I have the same problem.

It appears that it's the cable modem's settings that are disallowing me TFP access (I'm at work right now). I have been able to connect using public wifi from my home laptop, so that's how I know it's the cable modem.

What I'm unable to find are the software settings for that external piece of hardware. I realize that I'm just overlooking something obvious, but I have been unsuccessful in the past few weeks looking for it.

Also, props to Redlemon for coming to my rescue.

Cynthetiq 06-06-2009 08:33 AM

whew... here i thought there was a new problem!

have you looked at the firewall on the cable modem?

Mister Coaster 06-06-2009 08:40 AM

Would that be an actual switch, jumper or something like that on the cable modem itself, or will it be a setting I have to change through the computer?

If the former, I'll look. If the latter, I'm stumped.

Thanks for the quick response.

Cynthetiq 06-06-2009 08:45 AM

it's something you'll do on the computer connecting to the router itself.

what model cable modem? is there also a router? what model if there is one also?

Mister Coaster 06-06-2009 09:00 AM

I'll have to look at it tonight. Of course once I'm there I won't be able to connect and tell you about it... I'll look for some other wifi in my area. I have your e-mail, so I'll contact you that way.

Thanks again!

Jozrael 06-06-2009 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sion (Post 2479303)
back in 01 when I first got ZoneAlarm, I had it set to give a warning pop-up whenever any unauthorized attempt to access my computer occurred. by the end of that first day, I had disabled the pop-up, as it was going off about every 10 or 15 minutes. Yes, that's right....multiple times per hour. Most of the time, these unwanted access attempts were just random port scans being conducted by hacker bots. You know...looking for unprotected computers to invade and possibly infect with a virus or keylogger, or steal financial information.


Is why I consider a firewall like a condom: you're stupid for not using one, unless you have some other method of preventing the above (some other method of birth control).

wooÐs 06-06-2009 04:02 PM

Erm, use an anti-virus.

Shauk 06-06-2009 04:22 PM

if it's a dsl modem, most of them tend to be accessable from putting 192.168.0.1 in your web browser address bar

if it's cable, try 192.168.100.1

those are the only 2 i've ever had to use in my hojillion plus years of accessing modems.

routers are entirely another story though.

*crosseyed*


as far saying firewalls are useless, i'll just disagree. Firewalls are only as useful as the sum of it's parts, the parts being, the features programmed in to it, and your aptitude in utilizing or disabling those features as necessary.

That said, I use a pretty light combination.
Firefox w/ NoScript running (making allowances for trusted sites) keeps the busiest road from the internet to my computer fairly safe.
UAC/Windows Defender/Windows Firewall in windows 7 seem pretty well tuned and able to do their jobs, but I mean, yeah, it's just a home PC, not a mission critical corporate server.
the firewall on the router is kinda *meh* but it works.

I don't run an antivirus, but i'll download a freebee once a year or so to do a scan, usually turn up clean. It's more of an issue on laptops than home computers if you're in the habit of connecting to unsecure networks, it's basically the digital equivlent of unprotected sex.
I plugged in to a public network for a lan party once, instantly contracted the RPC virus that would shut your computer down every minute or so. That was fun. so firewall/AV software is fine for computers that have an active sex life, so to speak.

wooÐs 06-06-2009 04:26 PM

mah kumpyootr's a hoar.

Shauk 06-06-2009 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wooÐs (Post 2647135)
mah kumpyootr's a hoar.

When I lived in downtown Seattle, I had a neighbor who's Router SSID was "Slap me while I suck it"

I never could introduce myself.

wooÐs 06-06-2009 04:41 PM

LOL


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 10:52 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360