Can't connect to banking web site

B

Bill Eversole

Hi,

A client of mine has not been able to connect to his banking web site.
(status bar says "waiting for..." but never loads the page. I made a
house call today to determine the cause. Here are the things I've
tried:

I have tried creating a new user account--did not help.
Besides IE8, I have tried FireFox, Google Chrome, and Safari--did not
help
Rebooted his wireless router--did not help
Connected to his wireless network with my laptop--my laptop has no
problem loading web site.
Tried disabling McAfee Firewall--did not help.
Checked to see if web site is listed in McAfee's blocked IPs or IE 8s
Restricted Sites--it is not
Checked the Hosts File--it has no entries.
Deleted Temporary Internet Files and Cookies--did not help

Currently I have the laptop at my house connected to my wireless
network--still will not connect to his banking site
Typed in a free proxy server address in IE LAN settings--I CAN load
the web page

What can be blocking this web site? I've run out of ideas. I don't
think use of a proxy server is a good long term solution.

Thanks in advance.

Bill
 
W

webster72n

Bill Eversole said:
Hi,

A client of mine has not been able to connect to his banking web site.
(status bar says "waiting for..." but never loads the page. I made a
house call today to determine the cause. Here are the things I've
tried:

I have tried creating a new user account--did not help.
Besides IE8, I have tried FireFox, Google Chrome, and Safari--did not
help
Rebooted his wireless router--did not help
Connected to his wireless network with my laptop--my laptop has no
problem loading web site.
Tried disabling McAfee Firewall--did not help.
Checked to see if web site is listed in McAfee's blocked IPs or IE 8s
Restricted Sites--it is not
Checked the Hosts File--it has no entries.
Deleted Temporary Internet Files and Cookies--did not help

Currently I have the laptop at my house connected to my wireless
network--still will not connect to his banking site
Typed in a free proxy server address in IE LAN settings--I CAN load
the web page

What can be blocking this web site? I've run out of ideas. I don't
think use of a proxy server is a good long term solution.

It surely seems odd that by choosing a proxy server the site opens.
Is the native firewall disabled?
The obvious cause has to be found in internet connectivity.
 
S

SunshinePC

Online Banking sites typically have troubleshooting.

They may require javascript, pop-ups enabled, certain browers or
versions, etc.  I recommend going to your client's site and
investigating.  Also, I'm sure they have tech support.

--
lemur

::If *ANYONE* in this forum helps you, please click on
their *REP* icon. Thanks!  (the middle scale icon in the upper right
corner)::

Thanks for your reply.

Don't think it has anything to do with javascript, popups, browsers
since I've tried 4 different browsers. The web site will not load
unless I connect through a public proxy server. It has something to
do with Internet connectivity, but I have not figured out what yet.
Any more ideas?

Bill
 
W

webster72n

SunshinePC said:
Thanks for your reply.

Don't think it has anything to do with javascript, popups, browsers
since I've tried 4 different browsers. The web site will not load
unless I connect through a public proxy server. It has something to
do with Internet connectivity, but I have not figured out what yet.
Any more ideas?

Since it is working on the other computer, why not compare the two with
reference to the connection setup and find the culprit there?
Best of luck,

Harry.
 
T

Tae Song

Bill Eversole said:
Hi,

A client of mine has not been able to connect to his banking web site.
(status bar says "waiting for..." but never loads the page. I made a
house call today to determine the cause. Here are the things I've
tried:

I have tried creating a new user account--did not help.
Besides IE8, I have tried FireFox, Google Chrome, and Safari--did not
help
Rebooted his wireless router--did not help
Connected to his wireless network with my laptop--my laptop has no
problem loading web site.
Tried disabling McAfee Firewall--did not help.
Checked to see if web site is listed in McAfee's blocked IPs or IE 8s
Restricted Sites--it is not
Checked the Hosts File--it has no entries.
Deleted Temporary Internet Files and Cookies--did not help

Currently I have the laptop at my house connected to my wireless
network--still will not connect to his banking site
Typed in a free proxy server address in IE LAN settings--I CAN load
the web page

What can be blocking this web site? I've run out of ideas. I don't
think use of a proxy server is a good long term solution.

Thanks in advance.

Bill

I would seriously be leery about using an unknown proxy server. Proxy
servers are used as firewalls to separate corporate LANs from the internet.
You could use a proxy server to reroute packets so it looks like you're
connecting from somewhere else. But what if the person operating the proxy
server is sniffing your packets. Especially, packets for bank transactions
you could wind up getting your bank account hacked.
 
W

webster72n

Tae Song said:
I would seriously be leery about using an unknown proxy server. Proxy
servers are used as firewalls to separate corporate LANs from the
internet. You could use a proxy server to reroute packets so it looks like
you're connecting from somewhere else. But what if the person operating
the proxy server is sniffing your packets. Especially, packets for bank
transactions you could wind up getting your bank account hacked.

That's why Bill would like to find out what's wrong and he's still looking
for an answer. He didn't confirm disabling the native firewall.
 
T

Tae Song

webster72n said:
That's why Bill would like to find out what's wrong and he's still looking
for an answer. He didn't confirm disabling the native firewall.

I am just saying, to even suggest using an unknown proxy server to access
your bank account is appalling. It's like using a stranger (a proxy)
between you and a bank teller. Yes, the transaction is encrypted (it
better be), but if the encryption is broken they (the stranger) will have
all the information they need to empty out your bank account.

Proxies can be used as firewalls, if they are configured for that purpose.
Free proxy server on the internet can't really be used for that purpose,
since they are located on the internet (rather than in between the user and
the internet) . They're there to reroute packets so it looks like the user
is connecting from a different internet location (IP address). In this
case, it sounds like the IP address the user is using might be blocked from
accessing the bank website. Using a free internet proxy server, it makes it
look like the user is connecting from a different IP address (address that
is not blocked).

The user could try tracert (or traceroute on Linux/UNIX) to locate the
blockage. It's a good chance the bank website is blocking a range of IP
addresses the user is using for some reason (attempted hacking by someone
previously using the same range of IP addresses maybe).

Really the user should be talking to the bank (forwarded to the
network/website admin) to resolve the problem.
 
B

+Bob+

Hi,

A client of mine has not been able to connect to his banking web site.
(status bar says "waiting for..." but never loads the page. I made a
house call today to determine the cause. Here are the things I've
tried:

I have tried creating a new user account--did not help.
Besides IE8, I have tried FireFox, Google Chrome, and Safari--did not
help
Rebooted his wireless router--did not help
Connected to his wireless network with my laptop--my laptop has no
problem loading web site.
Tried disabling McAfee Firewall--did not help.
Checked to see if web site is listed in McAfee's blocked IPs or IE 8s
Restricted Sites--it is not
Checked the Hosts File--it has no entries.
Deleted Temporary Internet Files and Cookies--did not help

Currently I have the laptop at my house connected to my wireless
network--still will not connect to his banking site
Typed in a free proxy server address in IE LAN settings--I CAN load
the web page

What can be blocking this web site? I've run out of ideas. I don't
think use of a proxy server is a good long term solution.

Thanks in advance.

Bill

Can you connect it to other SSL (https) sites?
 

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