Hi David
Lets hope you have no more problems
Regards

Hi David
Sorry to hear you are having so many problems with logging in
I am going to flag this problem for Admin to advise you
Regards

Working backwards:
There are thousands of us connecting routinely to the WCG servers. There is the occasional delay in both the agent servicing and this website but they are not of the magnitude of the problems you describe. So this means the problem is between your keyboard and the servers at IBM. Since there are lots of other Brits getting in and out, then the problem is probably not in the crossing.

So the problem is likely somewhere in England. Perhaps between you and London. Likely not between Wisbech and London if everything else is working well.. So the problem is likely in Wisbech and your keyboard. So, I would ask if you look at the browser you use and check the "status bar" on the bottom of your browser window. What does it say when it is trying to get through?

Does it say "Looking up...." or "Connecting...."

Anyway, it sounds like it is intermittent which would make me think that it is not software on your PC in that you would know if it worked when your firewall was down and not up..or similar.

Just based on my experience, I would suspect my ISP if I were you. It could be that they have problems with their DNS server and WCG does not get hit often enough to keep it in the server cache so it has to go fetch info. What we call a SWAG (Scientific Wild A** Guess) is that it indeed is your DNS server. Well it is not that “Scientific”.

Test this by:
Once you get logged on, do a few things flipping through threads etc. and then kill that browser window. Then open another Browser window fairly quickly and see if you get through in a normal amount of time. If you do, then it is likely that your ISP has a insufficient DNS server cache.

Do you try to just go to the wcg.com? Try that instead of going directly to the forums. It might have something to do with the secure connection that you get when you are logged in or trying to get logged in. Let us know.. this is interesting.

While possible, I doubt Microsoft's anti-spyware tool is at fault. I've installed it on most of my home machines, and have never had any issues connecting. I would more suspect off-brand anti-virus tools, or small anti-spyware tools, over the Microsoft tool. (Not that I have much confidence is Microsoft's "perfect" coding skills... I just think that particular one is the culprit here.)

I'm not sure if the problem is DNS, as RT suggests, but it is definitely something worth exploring.

Depending on your level of technical proficiency, you could try hard coding the IP for the WCG sites into your hosts file... if you still have issues, it's not likely DNS, or, if the problem is immediately solved, you've found the culprit.

-CD

Thanks for all this advice, and please see my reply to the previous post. Just because I sent greetings from the fens you mustn't assume I'm in Wisbech - I'm right on the very edge of the fenland, near Stilton in Cambridgehire, and I'm actually above sea-level, but look down to land that is substantially below!

Ive seen my browser stick at the "searching for www.wgc" stage, and also at the "opening page www.wgc......" stage. I have tried going to the wcg web site as well as trying to go straight to the member area and I don't find any great difference in success rate. Sometimes I get to the wcg site OK but then if i try to go to the member area my sign-in fails "opening page ......"

Following your suggestion I've just opened another browser window, whilst on line in this one and got a virtually instantaneous connection to the WCG website. So perhaps it is a cacheing issue as you suggest.

Many thanks for your interest.

David.