When I try to access the msfn home page to check the latest news, I cannot access the URL.
This behavior started about a week ago. Instead I get a 'File Download - Security Warning' dialog box asking:

Do you want to save this file?

Name: msfn
Type: unknown file type, 17.7 KB
From: www.msfn.org

SAVE CANCEL

I haven't change any of my firewall settings lately (I'm using Norton Internet Security 2007). In fact I have the same issue when I temporarily turn off the firewall. I have no problem accessing the forums, as I am using the same PC right now.

Anybody else having this problem? Any ideas?

No problems here with FF2 or IE7. Tried clearing your cache?

I can't figure this out. Nothing I've done helps.

• cache cleared
• cookies deleted
• Windows firewall: OFF (disbled from install)
• NIS2007 firewall turned off

I have no problems with forum URL, but I can not access the home page

Oh yeah, using IE 6

This post has been edited by Mr Reorg: Dec 9 2007, 07:03 AM

A bad MIME type (or filetype association), perhaps? If so, you should have this problem on other web sites.

But I'm not trying to download any file when I get this. All I'm doing is typing "www.msfn.org" in the IE address bar. I get the same dialog box if I click on the RSS feed links I use on my Google home page. But if I type "www.msfn.org/board" I can access the main forum index page without any such problem.

I even put msfn.org in the Trusted Sites in IE's Internet Options /Security tab

Viewing a web page is essentially the same as downloading a file. The browser decides what to do (display the page or prompt for download) based on the MIME type. But if you don't have this problem with any other sites then that may not be the issue. Surf around to a few other sites. Especially ones that are based on VirtuaNews like MSFN's front page.

No joy. I was able to access those sites linked at the URL you provided.

This is getting very frusting!

Any other thoughts? Anyone?

Do you still have the problem when you use another browser? Or is this just an IE6 problem?

I didn't have any other browser installed, so I installed FF.

I've never used any other browser and never tried FF when I read about the memory leaks, since I only have 512 megs of RDRAM - you read that right. I'm using a 5 year old Dell machine that uses Rambus memory.

During the installation of FF I elected not copy over anything (i.e. bookmarks, etc.) from IE.

Result: No problem access the MSFN home page with FF.

But I'd still like to figure out why I'm having the issue with IE.

Run process monitor when you try to browse to http://www.msfn.org, and see what happens with either "Not Found" or "Access Denied". It sounds like there is some sort of mime handler issue - do other www.<whatever>.org sites work in IE?

Thanks for the suggestion. I ran process monitor, but I wasn't sure how to read & use the info it gave me.

Ayway, I started playing around with various settings under Tools / Internet Options and the problem disappeared. Stupidly, I didn't test after each change I made, so I'm not quit sure which one did the trick.

The bottom line is....problem resolved.

Thank you all for your input.