I tried to offer the suggestion to try the Firefox browser. Firefox browser is well known and has gained a lot of popularity. You've expressed concerns of installing Firefox due to concerns of creating issues on your computer. Although I understand, I tried to encourage that it's not difficult and not liking to cause the concerns that you have. The fact that Firefox is widely used as it is, is a sign of the ease of use and how users favor it over IE.

One of the things that Firefox offers that could help, through a plugin, is Firebug to help diagnose performance issues. Unfortunately, I don't believe IE offers this tool.

Below is a screen capture of Firefox running Firebug when loading CF. Firebug tells you the time (in milliseconds) each connection takes. As you can see, it calculates the many factors that is required with each connection. It can show what may be holding up process on your end (since all these connections are between and the servers). If others who are having issues were also able to do this, it could help spot a trend that could be used to locate what may be the cause of the intermittent slowness issues.

 

Just curious, why don't you tell us what you know about the latest CF virus? I got a warning about it on another site so I stayed away until the all clear was given but know more than a few users were affected.

Funny, got my first ever threat alert from MSE while typing this.

 

Can you tell me exactly what the threat alert you received from MSE is so that we can investigate? I'm not seeing any threat with MSE myself and I don't see anything suspicious looking at the site. Please let us know so that we can investigate that.

 

2012-01-19 19:45
14 to 20 second page loading on my 1 to 3 second ie8 browser followed by a database error notification


Database errorThe database has encountered a problem.Please try the following:

• Load the page again by clicking the Refresh button in your web browser.
• Open the forums.corvetteforum.com home page, then try to open another page.
• Click the Back button to try another link.

The forums.corvetteforum.com forum technical staff have been notified of the error.
We apologise for any inconvenience.

 

Next time that occurs, can you right-click on the webpage to view the source and copy/paste it here? That is a generic vBulletin database error message that can mean just about anything, but viewing the source will show the actual error so that it can be reviewed.

 

full disclosure: had several "tabs" open at the time (same ones for years)

I've shown mine, still haven't seen what you "know" (PMs welcome)

 

If you had several tabs open, are you sure it came from CF? If so, can you point to a specific page? Something like this could be global, or on just one individual page. My MSE is not alerting me to any security issues here on CF.

I understand. Like I said, there is still an ongoing investigation. At this time, I don't believe I can speak of more details about the issue while it's still being investigated and while there is continued effort to ensure that it's resolved.

 

I was replying to this thread. Don't know how I could be sure of where it came from. (Yahoo, FB, smaller ad free forum, wunderground, websudoku, Charter TV listings, Google Docs login page, CF) Was also running an initial scan with ad-aware that turned up 28 objects.

BTW: CF is the ONLY site I've had any issues with. All others load and function normally (fast)

Understood, keep us posted please.

 

Mine is also timing out and I'm using FF. When I use other sites there is no delays. I was using the Forum and the timeouts started when I tried looking at 'my previous items". Heck it even timed out when I tried to post this

 

Yep, everything else (sites, pages, searches) load and function normally. The forum is the only slow site to respond etc............
Same sort of thing we had here several years ago.

 

When you click on a thread this forum connects to about 20 other websites. Here's just a few. bluelithium, internetbrands, doubleclick, googleads, facebook. Then there's delays that time out between each one. Other forums I go to don't do this.

 

I have the same issues as well again, it's intermittent and very annoying....no other sites have this issue...IMO something has changed recently on the forum servers that must be causing this. IMO it is not a browser issue or anything to do with a user's PC or ISP connection.

If it was, we would see this problem recurring on other websites, and we don't.

 

A typical website does make some external connections to other websites/servers for the same reasons that CF does (advertisements and functionality). Even a personal site, for example, may have the browser connect to Google to download javascripts to enhance the experience of the site.

"Internet Brands" (ibsrv) is used for downloading the javascripts that enable some of the core functions (e.g., enables the drop-down menus, the insertion of the smilies and other core javascript-based functions that other vBulletin sites do use). Those functions are used on other vBulletin-based sites as well, but it's more typical for those scripts to be hosted on the same domain as the website so it's not as apparent. However, there is no rule in doing so. CorvetteForum has been, for years, setup in that manner.

"Facebook" is used for downloading the javascripts that enable the features such as Facebook like buttons and other Facebook features. Facebook is widely used on other websites.

If you've never seen any webpage have the browser connect to Facebook to load files (Facebook features) for usage on their website, then you're not browsing many sites! Using Facebook has become an extremely growing trend on the Internet due to Facebook's huge popularity and audience. This is also something CF has been using for some time.

On the flip side, if the performance issues were solely CF's end, every single member would be impacted but that hasn't been the case as some have reported not experiencing the performance issue. With this general performance issue, I still suspect that some may be experiencing issues due to more than one reason, and that some may be a mixture of both local (member's side) as well as remote (CF's side).

I'm not trying to assert that CF has no issues. Whenever CF has experienced a known issue, and there has been several in the past, I've acknowledged them. What I have tried to explain is that when there are reports that other websites are fine and thus it must be CF's end, that alone is not a good indicator of where the fault lies as there are many variables that aren't being factored in. Or when there are reports that nothing has changed on the member's end and thus something must have changed on CF's end, that software on the member's side does update in the background and the O/S and security software should be updated, which all of that is certainly changes that can possibly introduce new issues. All I'm trying saying is, there is more there than what is being considered.

I will continue to look into these issue, but without some specific information (like using Firebug on Firefox to show where any lag is occurring), it's extremely difficult to know where the issue is, especially when it appears intermittent and especially when some don't experience the issue to pinpoint it.

 

When I ran an initial scan using ad-aware, over half the objects detected were "doubleclick".

coincidence?

Is it possible that the affected users encountered a rogue pop up/banner ad that others didn't? Seeing as the ads are always different and "aimed" at individual tastes.

 

Referring back to my two previous posts on the 11th and 12th, I just started using a brand-new computer yesterday (HP notebook, Windows 7, IE9), and about half of the original issues remain in spite of a "clean start".

Normal navigation within the C1/C2 Forum is pretty normal from one thread to the next as long as I'm just reading, but exactly the same issues I described earlier occur as soon as I try to reply to a post, whether I'm quoting all or part of a post or just replying to the thread without quoting.

In order to reply (quoting or not), I have to first Ctrl-C what's in the typing box to save it, then refresh (F5); when the refresh completes (which can take up to 20 seconds), the typing box comes back with the quoted text in it (if I'm quoting), and I have to highlight and delete it, leaving a clean typing box. Then I Ctrl-V the saved quote and my response and click Submit, and it posts normally. If I'm adding a photo, I have to do the "Manage Attachments" procedure AFTER I Ctrl-V the text into the box for the photo to show up in the post; if I do it before the Ctrl-V, the photo doesn't post.

If I don't do the procedure above and just type the response and Submit normally, it grinds away for 15-20 seconds and I get the "Internet Explorer Cannot Display The Webpage" error screen; clicking the back button takes me back to the typing box, and I have to go through the whole Ctrl-C and F5 Refresh cycle again in order to post. The same thing happens if I'm trying to respond to a PM - requires the same gyrations.

I visit five or six message board sites every day (sometimes more), and spent the biggest hunk of my time (1-3 hours per day) on CF when the Forum was operating normally. All of this grief started about 2-3 weeks ago, but ONLY on CF - NONE of the other message board sites (or any other site I visit) have ANY problems at all; all the others react instantly and normally, without any delays, fails, or issues of any kind.

Something in this site's software is interfering with the operation of IE8 (my previous browser) and IE9 (my current browser); these issues ONLY appear on the CF site. I have no idea if it's related to the overload of ads and banners (which is unique to this site relative to the others I visit) - all I know is that it's immensely aggravating and frustrating and limits how much I can contribute to my fellow forum members.

 

If only half of the original issues remain, I'd say that's progress!

Would you be willing to install Firefox browser and run it for a few days on CorvetteForum and report back? It can help add to the statistics and help pinpoint which of the various areas the issue could be. I have to say, though, IE9 does have some known issues with other sites and I see it frequently in support.

 

I posted earlier in this thread that I was having the exact same issues a week a ago, and now John confirms the exact same issues I am experiencing AGAIN! I run firefox and have the same exact same issues as John has posted above Firfox for John will not cure this issue.

Additionally, I am on my work computer, and yesterday had the exact same issues! So its not my ISP connection or computer at home. Not John's either.

Im at work right now and have had the same recurrring issues only on the CF forum. Yesterday here at work I was attempting to reply to a post and literlayy had to answer it 4 times until it took - Very frustrating. Not to beat a dead horse here but these issues are only occuring on the CF forum. It has made what I enoy on a dialy basis very painful. Im going to press reply now and see if it times out. It usually does! Sorry for the bad news. I pray that this gets fixed someday soon. Thank You!

 

I posted earlier in this thread that I was having the exact same issues a week a ago, and now John confirms the exact same issues I am experiencing AGAIN! I run firefox and have the same exact same issues as John has posted above - IMO Firefox for John will not cure this issue.

Additionally, I am on my work computer, and yesterday had the exact same issues both with IE and Firefox! So its not my ISP connection or computer at home or at work. IMO - Not John's either.

Im at work right now and have had the same recurrring issues only on the CF forum. Yesterday here at work I was attempting to reply to a post and literally had to answer it 4 times until it took - Very frustrating. Not to beat a dead horse here but these issues are only occuring on the CF forum. It has made what I enjoy on a dialy basis very painful. Im going to press reply now and see if it times out. It usually does! Sorry for the bad news. I pray that this gets fixed someday soon. Thank You

 

And you see my reply post TWICE above cause it timed out again! Which now explains why I have seen many "DOUBLE POSTINGS" lately on the forum....

 

You will also see that some have reported not experiencing issues, or those that did have issues had found that Firefox was a much better experience. Yes, there are some that haven't. You may be one of those cases. Not all results have been the same and not all issues are the same.

I'm trying to work with people who are willing to work with us to not only try things to narrow things down, but to also help us document things.