At the end of May, Statcounter - the service I use to tell me who is visiting this blog - went down for a couple of days. But as far as I am concerned it was only for a couple of days and it has worked perfectly since then.
Today a couple of people have left comments on the post I wrote at the time. They say that Statcounter is still not working for them.
Am I lucky or are they unlucky? Someone from Statcounter left a comment on that posting at the time. I think you have some customers who would like to know what is going on, folks.
Hi Jonathon,
ReplyDeleteI apologise for the inconvenience. StatCounter is up and running at 100% and handling its billions of hits each day, so it is not a problem at our end, but I'll do my best to help you and any of your readers out.
Have you installed any software on your pc recently? Some software alters your hosts file which makes StatCounter inaccessible.
Does your hosts file contain this line?
www.statcounter.com 127.0.0.1
Your hosts file can be found in the following locations.
Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000/XP Pro c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP Home c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Open it up with a program like notepad and remove the line.
For Windows Vista
1) Browse to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories
2) Right click "Notepad" and select "Run as administrator"
3) Click "Continue" on the UAC prompt
4) Click File -> Open
5) Browse to "C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc"
6) Change the file filter drop down box from "Text Documents (*.txt)" to "All Files (*.*)"
7) Select "hosts" and click "Open"
8) Remove the line and close Notepad. Save when prompted.
Do you have any antivirus/spyware software installed on your pc? Try to disable this. There is a known problem with Kaspersky Anti-Banner Option blocking StatCounter. You need to uninstall this or specifically allow StatCounter to be accessed.
If that does not resolve the problem then it is likely a problem with your ISP.
On windows this can be detected by clicking "start", then clicking "run"
Type "cmd" into the box and hit return.
Type "tracert www.statcounter.com" into the black box and hit return.
This will show where on the internet your connection is having trouble getting to StatCounter. You could send this report to your ISP and to us to investigate it further.
If that still doesn't work and you are using windows xp you can try:
- Left Click start menu
- Left Click control panel
- Left Click network connections
- Right click connection you use to access the internet
- Left Click properties
- In the general tab, left click Internet protocol (TCP/IP)
- Left click properties
- In the General Tab, click obtain IP Address automatically
- Also click obtain DNS Server Address automatically
- Click ok
- Restart your computer because it may not work instantly
If we can help you further please do not hesitate to contact us at support at statcounter dot com
All the best,
Aodhan
Many thanks for this.
ReplyDeleteAs I say, my Statcounter came back in a couple of days and has been fine ever since.
But I think some other people may find this useful.