Programming Websites

Adblockers financial impact on your websites traffic

Feb 12, 2010 by Paul White

Adblockers have a place in the world.  That place was back when we all were using dial up internet.  Now that everyone is on high speed broadband connections, adblockers are doing more harm than good.  I will show you some concrete data to prove that adblockers are hurting any website that is dependent on Google Adsense for Revenue.

Hacker Attacks and Invalid character in a Base-64 string

Jan 13, 2010 by Paul White

On my websites I have them setup to email me anytime a server error happens.  If you ever get an error like "Invalid character in a Base-64 string",  This is likely a hacker attack.   In my case it was on the members login on my client's website.  I logged in and shut down the site.  10 minutes later I started it back up and the hacker had left.  Interesting is what the HTTP RAW data reveled.

HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR:84.0.182.175, 84.0.162.91, 84.0.237.176, 84.0.228.6, 84.0.220.100, 84.0.147.233, 84.0.159.1, 84.0.84.37 HTTP_PROXY_CLIENT_IP:84.0.182.175, 84.0.162.91, 84.0.237.176, 84.0.228.6, 84.0.220.100, 84.0.147.233, 84.0.159.1, 84.0.84.37 HTTP_CLIENT_IP:84.0.182.175, 84.0.162.91, 84.0.237.176, 84.0.228.6, 84.0.220.100, 84.0.147.233, 84.0.159.1, 84.0.84.37

Never seen these values before.  According to the logs the IPs were from hundreds of compromised systems. However they all had these values in common.   I am going to add a rule to detect the Class A IP in the 80.x.x.x block in the HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR, and block.  Hopefully this helps some other people out

w3wp.exe using too much memory and resources

Oct 1, 2009 by Paul White

If you are having problems with the w3wp.exe process using too much memory, I have the solution to your problems.  Not only will this reduce the size of your w3wp.exe but it will also speed up your website and reduce the amount of transfer your site uses. 

CSS div img overlap problem in IE 7

Sep 23, 2009 by Paul White

Not sure why by it seems that IE 7 if you have a DIV and you put something inside it like another DIV or an Image, then you float that item, the item will overlap the bottom of the container div.  The fix was very easy but for some it may not work depending on your design.  The solution was to assign a width to the container div.  This might explain why most newer sites are using fixed width layouts to fit a 1024 display.  So if you wan to make the switch to table less layouts, you might need to rethink how you build websites.

fixing The remote host closed the connection. The error code is 0x80070057

Sep 11, 2009 by Paul White

If you are running Windows Server 2008, and IIS 7.  Then the chances are you might have seen this mystery error. The remote host closed the connection. The error code is 0x80070057.  After reading multiple forums, I have found the solution.

So if your event viewer is full of errors like this

Base:
System.Web.HttpException: The remote host closed the connection. The error code is 0x80070057. at System.Web.Hosting.IIS7WorkerRequest.RaiseCommunicationError(Int32 result, Boolean throwOnDisconnect) at System.Web.Hosting.IIS7WorkerRequest.ExplicitFlush() at System.Web.HttpResponse.Flush(Boolean finalFlush) at System.Web.HttpResponse.Flush() at System.Web.HttpWriter.Write(String s) at System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter.Write(String s) at ASP.photo_aspx.__Render__control1(HtmlTextWriter __w, Control parameterContainer) at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildrenInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ICollection children) at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderChildren(HtmlTextWriter writer) at System.Web.UI.Page.Render(HtmlTextWriter writer) at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControlInternal(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer, ControlAdapter adapter) at System.Web.UI.Control.RenderControl(HtmlTextWriter writer) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

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IE6 float margins broken nothing working

Aug 14, 2009 by Paul White

If you have ever ran into the problem of having your floated elements not line up correctly in IE6, and you have already tried all the other suggestions like display:inline;  clear:both;  position:relative;  I have a solution, although you may not like it.

IE6 floating problem causing wrapping

Aug 11, 2009 by Paul White

There come a time when every developer plays an game of cat and mouse with CSS.  Its not so much the CSS but figuring out how to make it look the same in IE 6, as IE 7 and Firefox.  Well I came across one of these moments tonight.  Very interesting discovery.

How to get godaddy to work with custom 404 on multiple asp.net websites

Jul 27, 2009 by Paul White

If you have found this blog post, the chances are you have already searched the web for hours trying to figure this out.  Running a single website on godaddy is not a problem.  but once you start running multiple asp.net websites on your godaddy hosting account, and they all use custom 404 handling as part of URL rewriting you will run into problems. Here is how I made it work.

Protecting your website from Rogue Spiders

Apr 13, 2009 by Paul White

Recently one particular IP has been crawling one of my websites very fast.  If you are running static websites this might not be such a big deal, but when running complex dynamic websites, these spiders can kill your server's performance.  Here are some tips on managing the visitors to your website and stopping the bad ones.

FireBug is the must have Addon for Developers

Feb 17, 2009 by Paul White

Just wanted to share this with other developer who might be starting out and getting lost in CSS.  The FireBug addon for Firefox is the best tool for finding bugs in your CSS referencing.