Why a Website or Service Cannot be Accessed

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Find Out Why a Website or Service on the Internet Cannot be Accessed

It is always possible for even some of the most prominent websites or services to go down. Although the downtime of websites such as Twitter, YouTube or Face is often measured in seconds, other websites, on the other hand, might be down for hours or in some cases, days at a time.

Downtime is not the only reason why one might not be able to access a website. It is possible for a website to be blocked in your country, there might be ISP routing issues, or it is blocked by security software.

This guide will provide you with a list of suggestions which can be used to analyze the connection issues. Recommendations would be listed on this basis to access the site regardless of the connectivity issues.

Part 1

Analyze Why the Website cannot be accessed. Four options can be used to analyze the website.

• Try again: the first thing which one should do is access the site once again. Hit the stop button, if it shows that the site is still loading, then, reload it to see whether the connection issue was either temporary.
• Tracert / Ping: type tracert or run ping on the command line, it should be done quickly and would reveal valuable information immediately. Open the command prompt and type ping site, to ping the site. Likewise, type tracert site, to run a trace. If you see timeout messages, it indicates that there are routing or server issues.
• Web Checkers: They are useful if:
• The site might be down for everyone. It reveals that the issue is not caused by a setting on the computer or ISP.
• The site might be down for only you. It reveals the issue is caused by the ISP or computer.
• Ask Someone Else: ask friends or anyone that uses the same computer or ISP about the issue.

Part 2

Troubleshoot the connectivity issues. In case there are any connectivity issues, they can be troubleshot easily.

• Try another web browser or use the private browsing mode.
• Check to see if security software is blocking access.
• Check the host file.
• Use a third-party tool to see if the site has been blacklisted.

Part 3

How to Access a Site That Cannot Be Accessed

It is possible to access a blocked site. It could either be blocked countrywide or by the ISP.

The following tools or services would be useful to access the site.

• Start page proxy can be used on the browser to access the website in question. The search engine start page has a proxy feature that one can use.
• VPN: It is similar to using a proxy. However, it lets you connect to servers from various countries. It is ideal for contents blocked in your country.
• Way back machine: It can be used to access a stored copy of the website. It is perfect for viewing written content such as an article. Plus, it is easy to use.