# Forum



## Mike.C (25 Jan 2010)

Is it just me or has the look of the forum changed. I am talking about the top where it states "Home" "Reviews" "How to" etc. They have changed and moved over to the left hand side, and when you start a new topic or make a reply the "SpellCheck" "Preview" and "Submit" boxes are much larger.

Is it me or have I done something wrong???    

Cheers

Mike


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## Alf (25 Jan 2010)

Not just you, Mike. Reckon Charley's doing some housework.


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## wizer (25 Jan 2010)

Looks like Charley's got plans...


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## Karl (25 Jan 2010)

Well I think it looks [email protected]!

You have to scroll down each page just to get to the content!

Cheers

Karl


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## Karl (25 Jan 2010)

What's going on - it's just changed again since my last post!


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## wizer (25 Jan 2010)

It appears like whatever he's doing is not ready yet. It might be that he's changed something on the live site when he meant to do it on the dev


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## Dibs-h (25 Jan 2010)

looks like we're all guinea pigs!


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## Mike.C (25 Jan 2010)

Alf":3askwwrv said:


> Not just you, Mike. Reckon Charley's doing some housework.



Many thanks Alf. I thought that I had messed something up  

Cheers

Mike


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## xy mosian (25 Jan 2010)

Phew :? 

xy


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## Smudger (25 Jan 2010)

I like it. Much less cluttered, nice colour palette.


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## Racers (25 Jan 2010)

Hi,

V nice, looks loads better.

Pete


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## MikeG. (25 Jan 2010)

OK by me so long as the reply font stays as it was (and is again), rather than the one he tried for 20 minutes........

Mike


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## Digit (25 Jan 2010)

Damn and Blast! I've just spent an hour trying to correct it!!! :lol: 

Roy.


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## head clansman (25 Jan 2010)

hi charlie


nice looks really nice , what is the plane in the pic , my only dislike at the mo is centre the tabs at the top and not sure if i like the two tone blue strips yet hmm maybe i time ,other wise great .hc


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## miles_hot (25 Jan 2010)

Sort of like the look but my god it's slow on Safari - haven't tried it on explorer yet but it's very very slow on my mac

Miles


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## OPJ (25 Jan 2010)

I like the new look. That new logo reminds me of the logo for Mortal Kombat....


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## wizer (25 Jan 2010)

miles_hot":2e2hxp88 said:


> Sort of like the look but my god it's slow on Safari - haven't tried it on explorer yet but it's very very slow on my mac
> 
> Miles



I'm getting some speed issues tonight. It would be nice if Charley let us know what was happening. But I suspect he's working on stuff in the background which is temporarily slowing things down. Let's wait til Charley's announced what he's doing.


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## Chris_belgium (26 Jan 2010)

miles_hot":amslmorh said:


> Sort of like the look but my god it's slow on Safari - haven't tried it on explorer yet but it's very very slow on my mac
> 
> Miles



No problem on my mac, as usual this is one of the fastest forums I frequent. I am using firefox tough.


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## matt (26 Jan 2010)

If I were to hazard a guess I reckon the changes are to bring the site up to date to maintain a commercial edge. Note it's been Twittered too...


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## head clansman (26 Jan 2010)

hi charlie 

unless I'm missing something here , doesnt seem to be anything to tell you you have received a pM ? HC


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## Screw Loose (26 Jan 2010)

matt":2sial3py said:


> If I were to hazard a guess I reckon the changes are to bring the site up to date to maintain a commercial edge. Note it's been Twittered too...



Get the feeling we might be sold...............


But not on Ebay cus its against the rules :lol:


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## Mike.C (26 Jan 2010)

Screw Loose":ud9qhs8s said:


> matt":ud9qhs8s said:
> 
> 
> > If I were to hazard a guess I reckon the changes are to bring the site up to date to maintain a commercial edge. Note it's been Twittered too...
> ...



SOLD :shock: I hope not, what makes you think that, or have I missed the punch line????

Cheers

Mike


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## Digit (26 Jan 2010)

I've just received a PM HC with the usual flag. 

Roy.


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## head clansman (26 Jan 2010)

hi digit 

I see the pm tab button at the top so when you receive a pm does that change then ? hc


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## Digit (26 Jan 2010)

No idea HC. On my set up, Windows Live Hotmail, any replies to posts or any PMs are flagged up on screen automatically.

Roy.


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## maltrout512 (26 Jan 2010)

Still haven't made my mind up on the new look yet. Just get used to things and then it's changed.


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## 9fingers (26 Jan 2010)

Anyone else getting site not found messages since early evening yesterday (Monday).

About 1 in 3 accesses are leading to this problem for me.

Bob


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## pren (26 Jan 2010)

Does this mean the UKW badges are going to have to be redesigned? :lol:


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## misterfish (26 Jan 2010)

9fingers":s03sfud5 said:


> Anyone else getting site not found messages since early evening yesterday (Monday).
> 
> About 1 in 3 accesses are leading to this problem for me.
> 
> Bob



Not that I've noticed - it seems pretty quick whenever I try.

Misterfish


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## SammyQ (26 Jan 2010)

9fingers? Me too; unavailable wotsits in random places.


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## 9fingers (26 Jan 2010)

Yes Sammie,

It seemed to start around the same time as the new page format not that I can see why on earth there should be any correlation between the two but who knows?

Bob


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## Shultzy (26 Jan 2010)

Wouldn't it make sense to put the login box at the top of the screen on the forum home page.


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## SBJ (26 Jan 2010)

definitely looks like someone is tidying up before potential buyers come round! If you smell fresh bread or coffee and vases of flowers start appearing it's time to find a new home!


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## big soft moose (26 Jan 2010)

SBJ":1c6l3leo said:


> definitely looks like someone is tidying up before potential buyers come round! If you smell fresh bread or coffee and vases of flowers start appearing it's time to find a new home!



that would depend on who the buyers were - more active admin involvement would be a good thing, particularly in things like compos, merchandising etc - so I wouldnt necessarily see it as a bad thing so long as the buyer was in this field and not a manufacturer/supplier


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## wizer (26 Jan 2010)

I've heard the world's ending tomorrow....


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## big soft moose (26 Jan 2010)

wizer":f7n3efgw said:


> I've heard the world's ending tomorrow....



nah it cant do - ive got to go buy a cnc router - armageddon would play hell with the traffic on the M4


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## Doctor (26 Jan 2010)

I bet I could reduce it's potential worth!!!!

Someone give me the nod and I'll kick a thread off about over zealous moderators, everybody being up Charlie's bum etc

Mind you my old batting parners have turned tail and gone tame :lol: :lol:


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## wizer (26 Jan 2010)

I heard Charley found a cluster of forum members in the toilet the other day and that's why he's getting rid of UKW. Apparently he's got a place in big brother too.

But with Lie Neilson selling to Stanley this week, anything's possible...


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## jlawrence (26 Jan 2010)

Could be he just fancied playing with a new layout.

If he's prettied it up in order to sell - or even just attract more advertisers - can anyone blame him in this day and age.

Good luck to him regardless of the reasons for the change.


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## big soft moose (26 Jan 2010)

wizer":29ktwlgi said:


> I heard Charley found a cluster of forum members in the toilet the other day and that's why he's getting rid of UKW. Apparently he's got a place in big brother too.



you do know you arent suposed to drink alcohol with those pills ?, right tom


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## wizer (26 Jan 2010)

Serious, I read it in the Sport, it must be true...

(if drinking did anything other than give me a migraine I'd like nothing more than to have a lager or five)


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## studders (26 Jan 2010)

wizer":3kv15x1p said:


> I've heard the world's ending tomorrow....



I heard it was yesterday, did it happen?


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## wizer (26 Jan 2010)

Pretty much. This is must be heaven.


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## Charley (27 Jan 2010)

Hi,

Just a quick note to let you know what's going on before the rumour starts that I've sold up and retired to the Bahamas  The new forum design is the first stage in work I'm hoping to get done over the next few weeks. Not for potential buyers but to give UKW a fresh look and hopefully add some long over due features that will benefit everyone.

Sorry for the problems with the fonts, they all should be sorted now. I uploaded an old version of the stylesheet from the development account by mistake. The issue with the URLs should be fixed as well. I'm still trying to work out what went wrong. The modification I installed to convert the URLS to be search engine friendly stopped working when the hard drive crashed but only spotted it recently. I couldn't find the original one so had to install a slightly different version. 

Work's a bit hectic this week then I'm going away on holiday for a week but will be cracking along with the updates when I get back. In the meantime I'm going to setup a little questionnaire to ask for your feedback and suggestions on what you would like to see on UKW.


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## wizer (27 Jan 2010)

Vague as ever Charley :roll: 

My only question is, do you have the time to keep the content up to date? You don't take part in the forum any more, which I assume is due to 'life' commitments. So does this mean you will be returning to regular posting as well as daily\hourly content updates? I don't mean to sound blunt, but if you're not committed to keeping the 'new features' current, then you might be better not to bother. Ultimately, UKW is successful due to it's laid back independent atmosphere.


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## devonwoody (27 Jan 2010)

Thanks Charlie for your post above.

(I remember the Record forum, (does anyone?), your posts were frequently deleted on trade issues.)

Personally I find the forum runs smoothly and if someone kicks off , I turn the other cheek.


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## 9fingers (27 Jan 2010)

Charley":38m7cqu1 said:


> The issue with the URLs should be fixed as well. I'm still trying to work out what went wrong. The modification I installed to convert the URLS to be search engine friendly stopped working when the hard drive crashed but only spotted it recently. I couldn't find the original one so had to install a slightly different version.



I can only assume this change is the reason I am now getting so many DNS lookup failures. Any suggestions Charley?
My ISP is NTL

TIA

Bob


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## head clansman (27 Jan 2010)

hi all 

problems with the new changes you all seem to be getting , what problems mines working fine no problem at all :duno: . hc


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## CHJ (27 Jan 2010)

Thanks for the time and effort Charley, life has a habit of sending us all curve balls at times that disrupt the best laid plans, let us know when you've settled in. Sifting through a thread on 'Suggested Tweaks' could be a whole job in itself though. :lol:


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## devonwoody (27 Jan 2010)

Vigin (blueyonder) is perfect


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## CHJ (27 Jan 2010)

9fingers":ztr467y3 said:


> I can only assume this change is the reason I am now getting so many DNS lookup failures. Any suggestions Charley?
> My ISP is NTL
> 
> TIA
> ...



I don't think it's all been down to UKW server, several hosting servers (or the connections to them) we use have been disrupted for some reason over the last week, some in the london area going down for a couple of hours at a time.


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## 9fingers (27 Jan 2010)

devonwoody":1b0quy39 said:


> Vigin (blueyonder) is perfect



Do you know the address of the Blue yonder DNS lookup server you are using?

I expect I could get to it over the NTL network with a bit of luck and see if it is any better?

TIA

Bob


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## devonwoody (27 Jan 2010)

9fingers":1qlqm33n said:


> devonwoody":1qlqm33n said:
> 
> 
> > Vigin (blueyonder) is perfect
> ...



Sorry Bob, thats beyond me, PM me with details instructions and I would be pleased to help.


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## xy mosian (27 Jan 2010)

Have a relaxing holiday Charley.  

xy


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## matt (27 Jan 2010)

If anyone is experiencing problems following the changes then there's a couple of lightweight things you could try before going to great lengths.

Firstly... hold down CTRL and refresh the page. CTRL forces the refresh to refresh from the server rather than including any local content.

For a more thorough approach to having your pages served up from the server (thus including all the new content and connections); clear your local internet files. The method varies according to browser but is invariably under Tools.

Might also be worth clearing cookies too.

Mine is working fine so I've not had to use either of the above but then my history clears every time I close my browser unless I've specifically protected certain cookies (Mozilla add-on Cookie Culler).


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## jlawrence (27 Jan 2010)

As with most ISP's the BY nameservers can only be queried from IP's on their networks.

It's good to have a new look every now and then. Advertisers don't like things that stay stale.


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## 9fingers (27 Jan 2010)

Thanks for the suggestions and the offer of help DW although it looks like I would not be able to access BYs DNS servers anyway.

I'll give it a few days and see how the frustration levels are before doing anything rash!

Bob


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## TobyT (27 Jan 2010)

Try OpenDNS.

I personally haven't tried it but it's fairly well known.

http://www.opendns.com/solutions/household/


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## 9fingers (27 Jan 2010)

Thanks Toby.

I'll give that a try if things don't improve in a few days

Cheers

Bob


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## misterfish (28 Jan 2010)

i had a problem some time ago with my ISP (F2S) - progressively worsening with more and more DNS failures. I found that if I used the IP address everything was fine. After some searching it turned out the ISP had updated and expanded their capacity and were changing to new DNS servers with a new IP address. A quick configuration change and all was fine.

It turned out that the change had been mentioned in a previous newsletter but with nothing to emphasise the importance of the fact.

My ISP has allocated me a fixed IP address so configuration has to be done manually. 

Misterfish


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Thanks for that Jeff.
My DNS problem is intermittent and only with UK workshop.
Some months ago it got really bad and repeated attempts failed. Now if it fails a second attempt succeeds. This happened about 4 times yesterday- about 10-15% of UKW accesses.

So far this morning, it is OK

Bob


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## Dibs-h (28 Jan 2010)

Bob

Assuming UKW is on a static IP and you are not using a MAC ('cos I don't know how you do it for MACs) why not put a "hard" entry in your windows hosts file - that way it always knows what the ukworkshop address is?

HIH

Dibs.


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Dibs-h":3g6gjahq said:


> Bob
> 
> Assuming UKW is on a static IP and you are not using a MAC ('cos I don't know how you do it for MACs) why not put a "hard" entry in your windows hosts file - that way it always knows what the ukworkshop address is?
> 
> ...



That sounds interesting but totally new ground for me. I'm running XP home and browser is SeaMonkey2
I have found my hosts file with (help from wikipedia)
It seems to have a long list of urls all with IP 127.0.0.1 set by spybot search and destroy.
like this

127.0.0.1 localhost
# Start of entries inserted by Spybot - Search & Destroy
127.0.0.1	www.007guard.com
127.0.0.1	007guard.com
127.0.0.1	008i.com
127.0.0.1	www.008k.com
.
..
. very long list
.
.
127.0.0.1	www.zxlinks.com
127.0.0.1	zxlinks.com
127.0.0.1	zyban-zocor-levitra.com
# This list is Copyright 2000-2008 Safer Networking Limited
# End of entries inserted by Spybot - Search & Destroy



I presume these are blocked addresses rather than wanted ones or perhaps a reference list that spybot uses in some way?


I presume I should back up this file to start with and edit into a new copy (at the top and not in the spybot list??) something for UKW

like this(?) 

nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn www.ukworkshop.co.uk

Question is what is the ip address for UKW please.


Thanks for your help Dibs and sorry if my question is a dumb one but that sums me up when it comes to the internals of operating systems

Bob


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## wizer (28 Jan 2010)

9fingers":cuif9sqw said:


> Question is what is the ip address for UKW please.



92.48.118.217


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Thanks Tom.

Do you know about system host files? Do i edit it with notepad and just add a line with that IP addy?

TIA

Bob


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## wizer (28 Jan 2010)

Yeh that's is. I think what Dibs is saying is that by putting that in the host file, windows doesn't have to resolve the ip address every time. It's a long shot IMO.


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## jlawrence (28 Jan 2010)

If it is a DNS resolution problem then putting it in your hosts file could well fix it.
The ttl for ukworkshop.co.uk is only 60 seconds so it doesn't get cached for long on your system - so the hosts file will (should) stop successive dns lookup failures.
You will need to keep an eye out for if the IP of the server changes though (which likely won't happen often if ever).

Jon


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Thanks Dibs, Jon and Tom.

With much fear and trepidation I backed up the host file, edited a copy with just a comment line, re-booted, looked up UKW and the lookup failed first time and succeeded second time.
File type was originally 'file' and is now 'text document' but has no file extension.

I then edited the host file again adding the IP addy and url and re-booted again. UKW lookup worked first time.

Not a totally scientific or statistically valid test but at least it seems I have not killed anything -so far!

I hate tinkering with things I don't understand!

Thanks guys

Bob


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## Dibs-h (28 Jan 2010)

9fingers":3q3czv0p said:


> Dibs-h":3q3czv0p said:
> 
> 
> > Bob
> ...



That's it Bob - just add the line as you proposed in your post. You may need to reboot the server.

A quick test would be to open a Cmd Prompt - [Start - Run, type CMD & hit enter] and type the following

ping www.ukworkshop.co.uk

followed by Enter. You can do this before you add the entry to confirm what the IP address is and then do it again if your browser doesn't go anywhere - i.e. page not found.

This will confirm that the IP address is up, 2nd option would be that the site has changed it's IP address (I'm sure Charley could comment on whether the site has a static one - I would have thought so, but you never know). In which case you need to change the IP address associated with the entry in the hosts file.

The following link will give you the IP address if you want to check

http://www.mxtoolbox.com/SuperTool.aspx ... shop.co.uk

It lists the nameservers for UKworkshop - shows them to be pointing to Charley own nameservers - which suggest to me that the site is on a static address. I could be wrong - but I would suggest you make the entry and if it all goes weird - just put a hash infront of it or remove it. It will have no affect on anything other than you looking at this site.


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## TobyT (28 Jan 2010)

9fingers":2htu4ouv said:


> Thanks Dibs, Jon and Tom.
> 
> With much fear and trepidation I backed up the host file, edited a copy with just a comment line, re-booted, looked up UKW and the lookup failed first time and succeeded second time.
> File type was originally 'file' and is now 'text document' but has no file extension.
> ...



I suspect you have worked it out from the wikipedia page but the hosts file is your local variant of DNS (Domain Name System). This is checked first and then the DNS servers for a name lookup. Using this you can theoretically use any name to refer to the IP address, instead of the full name. So you could shorten ukworkshop.co.uk to ukw. I find Bookmarks easier though. I would argue that using the hosts file works but it is preferable to use something like OpenDNS, or get your ISP to fix their's. Otherwise, if the ukw IP changes you have to change the hosts file, and of course you have to add an entry for each failing website.

The 127.0.0.1 is the loopback address. This is always recognised as belonging to the local computer. What spybot seems to have done is put in a list of dodgy sites and so if you, or a rogue program, tries to contact that site you just contact your local computer. If you run a webserver it will return that website, otherwise just a blank page.

The convention for configuration files is that a blank space is a field delimiter and the hash (or pound sign for those on the other side of the pond) denotes that anything after it is a comment. So a quick way to temporarily remove a line or variable from processing is to put a hash in front of it.

I assume you have the option "Hide Extensions for known file types" turned off (Windows Explorer->Tools->Folder Options->View tab). The hosts file shouldn't be shown as a file of type text. It maybe because files with no extension may now be associated with notepad, which is OK, or it could be that it has now been saved with a hidden extension of .txt, which means it won't work.


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Toby,
your post was really helpful.

I have now turned on the file extensions and see that my modified hosts file is in fact hosts.txt

Furthermore I have had a case of dns failure since making the modification.
So as you say, the hosts.txt file is not being read.

Question. How do i remove the .txt extension? I tried file re-name and it comes up with a warning about unstable file names. Is it safe to do it this way or is there a 'stable ' way?

TIA

Bob


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## Dibs-h (28 Jan 2010)

9fingers":31ry27oi said:


> Toby,
> your post was really helpful.
> 
> I have now turned on the file extensions and see that my modified hosts file is in fact hosts.txt
> ...




Just highlight the file - press F2, type your new name with no extension and ignore whatever jibberish it comes out with. It's just down to windows expecting file extensions on the whole & not realising that there are little parts of it that still have files that don't use extensions.

Dibs

p.s. You have a backup anyway.


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Thanks Dibs,

I have done just that, re-booted and wait to see how it goes.

Cheers

Bob


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## Dibs-h (28 Jan 2010)

9fingers":1cz082jd said:


> Thanks Dibs,
> 
> I have done just that, re-booted and wait to see how it goes.
> 
> ...



Hello! Anyone there? How did it go Bob? :wink:


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

So far so good. No DNS failures on UKW but to be fair I have not been doing much on the forum. 
I've been IMing with a friend trying to sort out her tax return. Silly girl has left it very late!!

Bob


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## xy mosian (28 Jan 2010)

As I thought, and just checked on my XP system. The 'hosts' file has the 'Read Only' attribute. It may be that your changes are not actually stored. It would be worth opening up the file to check.

xy


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

xy mosian":96rfola0 said:


> As I thought, and just checked on my XP system. The 'hosts' file has the 'Read Only' attribute. It may be that your changes are not actually stored. It would be worth opening up the file to check.
> 
> xy



I've just checked the file and the UKW entry seems to be there. Also I had to re-specify notepad as the application to open with so it does seem to have lost the association with the .txt extension.

I guess as the original problem was intermittent, I'll just have to keep accessing the forum as often as possible to make an assessment on the viability of the fix.

Bob


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## Dibs-h (28 Jan 2010)

9fingers":1ravg5p7 said:


> So far so good. No DNS failures on UKW but to be fair I have not been doing much on the forum.
> I've been IMing with a friend trying to sort out her tax return. Silly girl has left it very late!!
> 
> Bob



Cool.

if you have any probs - just open the file with Notepad and put a hash infront of the entry, then save over itself and it should be ok.

Although I think you wil be ok as I suspect the site is on a static IP - i.e. hardly ever changes.

Tax - just got all my accounts\returns sorted out and filed yesterday. Last yr was the first time doing them and they took ages - this yr took a few hours and my tame accountant (chum) gave them the once over.


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## 9fingers (28 Jan 2010)

Dibs-h":16crben5 said:


> 9fingers":16crben5 said:
> 
> 
> > So far so good. No DNS failures on UKW but to be fair I have not been doing much on the forum.
> ...




I got my tax down to a fine art when I was in employment and had part time self employment with capital allowances for my machinery.
Most years I got a rebate back on my PAYE!!

Now I've retired, the self employment sideline has reduced to almost nothing and the machines have been mainly written off.
Over the years my free time has turning into tax free machine tools   

If I can keep any problems down to the magnitude of DNS look-up bugs I'll be doing OK.


Thanks to everyone who has chipped in today!!

Bob


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## xy mosian (28 Jan 2010)

Keep plugging away  

xy


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## 9fingers (31 Jan 2010)

Well I think I can declare the problem fixed.

Not one single UKW DNS lookup failure since I edited the hosts file.

Thanks everyone who helped.

Bob


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