How to stop Web pages from dissapearing

Browser Error Mysteries.

 

What can you do about disappearing web pages?
By Scott Spanbauer.

 

 

The internet is a resilient creature - it survives viruses, worms, hackers and crackers without breaking a sweat. That's why it's so shocking when you type in a web address or click a link only to receive the dreaded '404 Not Found' error message from the remote web server. The site you wanted seems to have disappeared. But don't just give up - the 404 error appears for numerous reasons:

 

. The page you want may have moved.
. You may have clicked or typed a URL (universal resource locator - in this case, a website address) that contains an error.
. Your browser may have failed to connect to the remote web server at the domain in the URL. This is the most common and easiest 404 to fi x: just press the key, if necessary, until the URL you want is displayed in your browser's address window, then press .

 

HURL THE RIGHT URL

 

If no amount of pounding on the key yields the site you want, all is not lost. Here's the good news: the fact that you're receiving a 404 message means that your internet connection is good, and that the URL at least points to a domain with a functioning web server. The bad news is that either the path that follows the domain name is wrong, or you have the wrong domain altogether.

 

Bad URL paths leading to 404 errors also plague you when you click URLs received in email messages. When the sending email program inserts line breaks into a long address, the receiving email program will often treat the break as the end of the URL. The solution is to reassemble the complete URL in your browser's address fi eld by copying and pasting the pieces.

 

Alternatively, especially if the fractured address is particularly long, copy it into a word processor, delete the line breaks and then copy and paste the results into your browser.

 

Bad domain names don't always yield 404 errors. Type nzgirl.net into your browser's address fi eld instead of nzgirl.co.nz, and your browser will probably tell you the site doesn't exist. That's correct - it doesn't. But if you type www.microsift.com/windowsxp instead of www.microsoft.com/windowsxp, the web server at the domain microsift.com kicks into action.

 

If you're sure the URL you entered is correct and complete, but you still get a 404 error, what next? One solution is to enter just the domain portion of the URL (only through to the '.com' or '.org', for example), press to go to the website's home page, and then use its search or navigation tools to find the page you were looking for. Or it may be better to use Google's search engine to find the page. In addition to finding related pages, Google has a huge cache of websites that allows you to view sites and some of their pages that have been deleted from the original web server. If clicking on a Google search link yields a 404 or other error, press , and instead click the small Cached link (if it exists) at the bottom of the search item.

 

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