Off-line Caching / Subscribing *** PLEASE READ ***

[RET]

Guys,

This most likely applies to anyone using Internet Explorer, the scourge of web browsers.

As you know, we recently moved this site from Pacific Internet to a new service provider, Mister PC.  The main reason we did this was better support and lower charges.  However, for the site to cost less, we have to remain within the fairly generous bandwidth limits set.

So far, that has not been the case, and we are blowing our bandwidth limit (2GB/month) inside of 10 days!  Current usage is over 300MB per day, which is just unbelievable.  This equates to over 11,000 forum pages served every day.

Since moving to our new service provider, we get much better usage statistics than before.  From this, we have been able to determine that the majority of our traffic is from a handful of users.  This can only mean one of two things, either:
a) some of you can read thousands of forum pages a day, or
b) you have (possibly inadvertently) turned on off-line caching of the forum in your browser.  This is a "feature" in Internet Explorer that allows you to read the content of a site even when you're not connected to the internet, by downloading virtually its entire contents and storing it on your PC.

If you have done this, please turn it off. We'll have no option but to ban users who continue doing this.  There appear to be less than a dozen people responsible, but between them they account for over 250MB per day of traffic.  One user alone is responsible for 88MB/day, which equates to over 1800 pages' worth of forum content.  There isn't that much activity on this site in 3 months!

In an old copy of IE (for Mac) that I have, this function can be found under "Favourites / Subscribe / Customize... / Offline", where there is a check-box and an "Options" button.  Perhaps someone who understands what I'm talking about can throw up a screenshot of Windows IE to show people how to turn it off?

I don't know who the users in question are, but I do have their IP address, their ISP's name, their state and suburb.  They won't be hard to track down if I need to.  So please, if you're using IE, make sure you are not subscribed to this site.

cheers
RET

PS: Please don't reply to this thread to tell me you've checked and it's not you. Nor do you need to confess publicly if you are one of the culprits.  Just switch it off.

[Eaton_FE]

Dear RET,
I think I might be one of your culprits, Because when I log in I have to refresh each page every time. I have no idea how to reset this or make it all good again.
Any help would be appreciated.

I will be away for 3 weeks, we are doing to do the big road trip to Sydney.
I should be easy to pick out we will  the silver VZ Commodore.

Les

[RET]

Les,

That sounds like a different problem.  Haven't heard that one before.  Send me a PM with some more details and I'll see if I can come up with anything.

Silver VZ eh?  I'll keep an eye out for you

cheers
RET

[RET]

Time passes and

1) the massive downloads continue, and
2) none of the PC-savvy users on this site acted on my request to post instructions how to disable this.  Thanks very much

OK.  You want something done, you do it yourself.  Following a painstaking combing through logs, I've identified the 88MB download offender.  He has been banned (and I've emailed him to explain why and how to fix it).

For the rest of you, here's how you check to see if you're responsible.

1. Under the "Favorites" menu, choose "Organize Favorites".
2. Highlight your bookmark for the FE-FC Forum
3. In the box on the bottom left of the window there is a check-box labelled "Make available offline".  If this is checked, smack yourself with a ruler several times and then uncheck it.
4. Click "Close"
5. Download Firefox and stop using IE.

The next biggest offenders are downloading about 35MB a day.  They will be banned next, tomorrow if I get the chance.  Don't say you haven't been warned.

[RET]

OK, a new month begins.

The users who had been banned will now find their access has been reinstated.

I will be monitoring the usage patterns on a daily basis, so that I have a better picture of what's going on.

My apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by the ban.  However, our usage last month (which is supposed to be below 2GB per month) was over 10GB.  Unless we keep a lid on it, the money we were supposed to save by moving hosts will quickly disappear.  Our new provider's largesse won't last forever...

cheers
RET

[FC0058]

RET
I followed your instructions with no joy.
I would say it it all depends on the version of IE.

Cheers Jim

PS I hope its not me, and my wife will not let me download fire fox.

[sgo]

Tell your wife I recommend FireFox

[FC0058]

I had it until we had to rebuild the PC, lost all my fav's along with the passwords that I had stored.

Took me ages to remember them all.

Cheers Jim