GOTD site mostly not accessible since yesterday except via VPN proxy program

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GOTD site mostly not accessible since yesterday except via VPN proxy program

(7 posts) (4 voices)

Started 9 years ago by xprt007
Latest reply from graylox

xprt007
Member

Hi

I have been a regular visitor of the GOTD site for years.
For no apparent reason, since yesterday or Sunday, I noted that the site is MOSTLY not accessible & just in case it is, one cannot install the giveaway because consistently the activation process cannot connect.

Most of the time, though ... and this is NOT only one PC, but several PCs, right here at some university & at home, one is instead redirected to another probably domain provider page (see screenshot) saying the domain is under construction.
The specific screenshot is of what you see if you click today's Inpaint Giveaway. You get something similar for other GOTD links.

I at first thought something was wrong with my laptop, a case of browser hijack, & even did several things against this, including cleaning the PC & doing a recovery, but as said SAME with several university network PCs, which cannot be manipulated & at home.

Right now, I could only access the site to this forum on my laptop AFTER turning on F-Secure Freedome VPN program & setting my location to USA. I suspect AT LEAST some German or probably other locations cannot access the site. Before the VPN program, on this laptop & currently on a desktop I have right before me, GOTD is NOT accessible.

Since I also run some 2 sites using the GOTD RSS feed, whose visitors are probably being wrongly re-directed, I appeal to you to urgently look into this.

It is not a case of browser hijack or local browser issue.

Yesterday, I failed to install or download the Minitool Giveaway because of this, in spite of trying it several times a day on different PCs, locations, browsers (I.E. Edge, Firefox, Chrome & Opera)!!!!

I am having no issue for ALL OTHER sites.

ADW Cleaner, Panda Internet Security, Malawarebytes Pro, IOBIT Malware cleaner find the laptop clean.

I am not sure whether it has anything to do this, but a major German PC/Internet website, which uses GOTD feed http://www.pcwelt.de/giveawayoftheday at least today mentions not being able to provide the giveaway because of "technical problems" or it is may be just a coincidence.

I would appreciate URGENT ACTION & a quick response.

I am also pasting this on the GOTD comments page, just in case someone there can identify with the problem, which I know is not affecting everyone.

Posted 9 years ago #
graylox
Moderator

Hi xprt007,

with Chrome and Firefox I hadn't any problem (Germany) to get to the GOTD site, even the download and the activation/installation went fine.
But I have heard of others, that they have trouble reaching the site.
Maybe it's just a temporary glitch? Or any add-on in your browser?
The GOTD team seems to be heavily working on the site.

I'm sorry that I can't be of any help, we forum admins get only the same information as every other user = no info :(
Nevertheless I'll send a PM to the team with a link to your post.

Please call back if something changes for you.

graylox
03-11-2015

Posted 9 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

Like Graylox, I can't help with the problem and it looks fine to me.

Since GOTD appears to have some sort of issue, I'll give you a direct link to download in case you want the current giveaway.

Description:
Giveaway of the Day - Inpaint 6.2

Inpaint reconstructs a selected image area from the pixels near the area boundary. It may be used to delete unwanted objects from your photos, such as extra power-line, people and text. The program will automatically paint out the selected area to erase it. If some unexpected objects spoil an otherwise good photograph, you can esily remove them - just select the object. No need to fiddly mess with the clone tool. It is simple to use - just draw a selection around the object you want to remove from the picture and run Smart remove feature.

Purchase a Personal license (with support and updates) at 50% discount!
System Requirements: Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8; 1000 MHz processor; 256 MB RAM
Publisher: TeoreX
Homepage: http://www.theinpaint.com/
File Size: 11.9 MB
Price: Inpaint 6.2is available for $19.99, but it will be free for our visitors as a time-limited offer. You can download and install it now. Please note that you have to install it before the Giveaway offer for Inpaint 6.2 is over.

Posted 9 years ago #
xprt007
Member

H

Thanks for the response.

But I have heard of others, that they have trouble reaching the site.
Maybe it's just a temporary glitch? Or any add-on in your browser?

As said, yesterday SOMETIMES the giveaway site loaded I was able to download yesterdays offer BUT the activation consistently failed on DIFFERENT PCs & locations, at the university & later at home. Most of the time, though since yesterday if you managed to get the download link on some site with the GOTD feed, you would get a blank page, otherwise in ALL BROWSERS, ie Edge, Firefox, I.E., Chrome & Opera, this other stupid page shown in screenshot, if you tried to access any GOTD page.

Same RIGHT NOW on some desktop before me I have the DIRECTNIC page claiming GOTD is under construction & on this very laptop if I turn off the VPN Proxy software, I will NOT be able to access this page.

It is NOT a localized browser issue & so let your technicians please take note of that! I mentioned I even did a restoration on PC just because of that & among other things, even if I knew it was NOT the case, deleted my Firefox & Chrome & tried them without ANY add-ons ... & if all the above mentioned security software finds no issue at all, it cannot all be lying ;) ... & different university network PCs ... at different locations, moreover which u cannot manipulate ...

Furthermore, some 2 people on today's Giveaway comment page from UK & France added to my comment there, confirming at least partial accessibility issues.

Also same issue on this major PC/Internet magazine site (covering several German-speaking countries): http://www.pcwelt.de/giveawayoftheday ... previously, there was no content pulled by feed from GOTD for "technical reasons", now a few hours later, it gets it but the download links lead one to the site in screenshot ...

Regards

Posted 9 years ago #
xprt007
Member

@Chris

Thank you for your offer.
Actually (only) with the use of F-secure Freedome VPN software, I was able to access the site today & have actually already installed Inpaint. If i had thought of that yesterday, I would have done the same.
I am afraid as even more additional comments on today's download page to my original comments show, the issue is much more widespread, apparently affecting SOME folks also at least in parts of Canada & USA. One wrote

Problem in US too. Why did you think it was only Germany?

On my other PC right here, without the VPN program, (set to a US proxy), no access to ALL GOTD pages.

By the way the direct GOTD down link you provide above as I had mentioned above makes no difference. That screenshot as you see was made on a page that exact link led me to ...

I hope whatever is behind this gets identified & dealt with by the GOTD administrators as SOME people are definitely affected.

I am a bit more worried, because I use the GOTD feed on 2 sites & fear some of the regular guests there are affected & being re-directed to a wrong & unexpected site ... is not that good.

Thank you & regards

Posted 9 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

FWIW I suspect the problem isn't specifically the GOTD servers, but rather in the routing over the Internet pipes, &/or maybe regarding mirrored servers. Maybe some DNS servers are being attacked?

Posted 9 years ago #
graylox
Moderator

FWIW I suspect the problem isn't specifically the GOTD servers, but rather in the routing over the Internet pipes, &/or maybe regarding mirrored servers. Maybe some DNS servers are being attacked?

https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/

That's what I'm using. Once installed and then forgotten.

Posted 9 years ago #

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