Download problem resolved.

[benedict]

My inability to download software from the Digital Digest links nothing to do with download managers or accelerators. The downloads were bouncing off of my firewall. I had run into this on another site (FOSI), but I didn't think of it for a while in this case because FOSI merely ignored my download manager once my firewall was down.

Perhaps whoever is in charge of that 404 page could modify it to include this firewall problem?

[And, while I'm at it, why did that thread get deleted so fast?]

[admin]

Thanks for the info - I'll make changes to the 404 page, and all other relevant pages, as soon as possible.

As for the thread that got deleted, I am not sure which one you are referring to (this one ?), since I don't think I have deleted any of your threads lately, and I am the only one that can do it.

[benedict]

Wasn't that bothered about

about the thread thing (That was the one, too. Don't understand why I lost it.).

Anyways, finding that firewall problem was enough to make my day. As a bonus, I got to pick up a few programs (AVI Info and MovieID) that proved to be just what the doctor ordered.

My firewall is McAfee (v2.13.001.0), by the way. I don't know if the problem is specific to that firewall or not (it wasn't on the FOSI site), but I thought I'd pass that along just in case.

[admin]

I'm using BlackICE Defender as my software firewall, and I must admit I've locked myself out of my servers a few times (it took a while, and several tech-support emails to my server's web host, before I figured out what was wrong ).

Everytime a download is requested by your browser (or download manager), the name/type/version of the browser and the location of the link is sent to the server, and my server basically checks these information to sort out which downloads to allow and which to deny (all using standard Apache .htaccess rules). The same information sent to the server can also be used to compile a log, and I'm sure spyware programs can use this information (the stuff sent by your browser, NOT my server logs) to track your Internet usage.

I guess if your firewall is sensitive about sending information from your computer to foreign servers (eg. use for spyware information gathering), then it would probably try to strip some of this information before sending it, and possibly causing download problem on my server. If your firewall has a setting to determine how "strong" it is, then setting it to the strongest setting might cause this to happen.

That's my guess as to why this happens ... probably wrong though, considering I did manage to lock myself out of my own servers and tried to blame it on my web host :-

[benedict]

Nope. No setting for "strength" in McAfee. Just "block all", "allow all", and "filter". On an outgoing basis, "filter" is just apllication-specific. On an incoming basis, it's just checking for an outstanding euphemeral. Still, there must be something going on like you're talking about. I'd ask McAfee, but getting an answer out of them is like trying to get water from a stone. And forget their documenation; it's so general (for all of their stuff, not just the firewall) as to be useless. You might as well just slip in their installation discs and see what comes out.

Anyways, I know how to get my downloads now, and after all, that is what's important. Thanks for your attention on this!