re: Can't access Yahoo Mail and Gmail but other websites are generally alright...
Friday, October 5, 2007 at 9:26 am
Posted by Joe Hepperle
(73 messages posted)
-- Behavior Modification?
-- Do more thinking?
-- ...serious lack of enlightenment?
-- Nobody (with Windows 98) can access Windows Update?
Huh?
DarkLady01 said she was having a problem connecting to Gmail, Yahoo, and Windows
Update. Where's the help on that?
Notwithstanding what "gewg" wrote (it has been removed from the thread now), Windows
Update is available for Windows98 users. "gewg" is wrong.
"gewg" is confusing "Update" with "support". Those two things are not the same. Although
Micro$oft is not making any NEW improvements to Windows 98, anyone can still connect
to Microsoft and receive every last one of the updates to Windows98, and Internet
Explorer. If you can't connect to microsoft for the updates, it is NOT because you
are using Windows98, and it is NOT because you are using Internet Explorer5. Try
typing " http://www.microsoft.com " in the address bar. Can you connect to the Microsoft
generic home web page? If so, there are links there that you can access Windows Update
from. You also might check your HOSTS file to see if someone has put Microsoft Update
at 127.0.0.1 If that sounds like computer-speak gobbly-gook to you, then try everything
else (below) and then come back to this if you have no success. The HOSTS file is
at C:\WINDOWS\hosts -- it is a text file, but it does not have the familiar ' .TXT
' ending. It is named only " HOSTS ".
Gmail supports Windows98 and Internet Explorer 5.5 so you would need to be exact
and specific whether you have Internet Explorer 5 (only) or Version 5.5. BUT even
if you don't have IE5.5 Gmail has an HTML version which is accessible with Internet
Explorer 4.0 ! See: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about.html
What method are you using to attempt access to Gmail? When you go to the main Google
search page ( http://www.google.com ) do you click on the gmail link at the top of
that page? If so, what happens? Does it shuttle you over to the sign-in page? If
so, what happens when you type in your username and password?
Gmail website does say that Javascript and Cookies must be "enabled" on all browsers.
Check your configuration and see if those two are enabled. (In internet explorer
web page, click on TOOLS menu at the top, then select INTERNET OPTIONS from the drop-down
menu. That will open a configuration window with a bunch of tabs near the top. Click
on the ADVANCED tab and go through all of the items which show there, to make sure
that all is set correct. Then move over to the PRIVACY tab and make sure all is okay
there, then do the same on the SECURITY tab.)
And finally, on the Gmail FAQ web page, under the heading "Today's Top Five Question",
the number one question is "I Cannot Access My Account". So DarkLady01, either you
are bombarding them with this question, OR other people are experiencing problems
too, unrelated to Windows98 and/or Internet Explorer version.
I'm not well versed with Yahoo, but I am aware that their site is inaccessible to
many people at various times because of YAHOO, not because of Windows98. I don't
use Yahoo but some of the computers I have fixed were in on a complaint that they
couldn't access Yahoo. I discovered quickly (more than once) by using my other computers
that the problem was with Yahoo, and not my clients' PC's. Lordy Halelujah, without
me doing anything, Yahoo was miraculously available the next day to their computer(s).
(Now, I just tell them to check if they can access Yahoo tomorrow, and if they can't
get on tomorrow, THEN I'll look at their computer. Everyone has had success the next
day with Yahoo.)
If all this sounds kinda understandable, but daunting... the next best way to accomplish
your mission is to first bake a couple pans of cookies (real ones, no pun intended).
Then about three o'clock this afternoon, sit out on your front porch and wait. When
one of the local teenagers is walking by on their way home from school, casually
holler over and ask if he/she knows anything about computers -- while you are deliberately
and obviously biting into a soft chewy chocolate-chip cookie. Although it's not guaranteed
that you'll find the right person, you may get lucky and get your computer working
for those web sites just for the price of a dozen or so of home-baked cookies.
Good luck, and you are to be commended for not giving up. It seems as though you
have taken all the right steps so far... Your computer wasn't working but you needed
to get stuff done -- so you grabbed another one and made an attempt rather than just
give up. Then when the replacement didn't work 100%, you tried to get the necessary
updates. Good thinking, and good procedure. You can take pride that rather than just
lay down and complain about how 'crappy' a computer is, you are marching forward
still looking for the successful route to the accomplishment of your goals. Good
Job so far!
Joe Hepperle
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