Mac browser problem ("404: page not found")?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

In the past few weeks, I've stumbled across an interesting problem. Web 
pages that colleagues have been able to open in a PC-based browser 
don't seem to open in either of my Mac browsers. (I'm using the latest 
versions of both Safari and Internet Explorer under OS-X Panther. Both 
get the same error message) I get a "404: file not found" error.

This doesn't happen in any major site (Google, PC Magazine, Amazon, 
etc.). Nor does it happen with lesser sites, such as my own site (still 
in alpha testing). There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what 
separates the sites that work from those that don't.

At first, my suspicion was that the designers of the Web site were 
checking for the browser type and OS, and rejecting unsupported 
browsers. (Bad design except for specific situations, but doesn't that 
verdict describe about 90% of the Web?) But I've visited sites that 
check for browsers and have gotten different error messages, not the 
"page not found" error. Moreover, the most recent site that gave me the 
404 error was running on Mac OS-X Server and I was able to display the 
root page--which makes the "we don't accept Apples" explanation seem 
unlikely. <g>

Any thoughts about what might be going on? I am running both updated 
antivirus software and two firewalls (a hardware one in my router, plus 
Apple's software firewall); moreover, I've disabled ActiveX and Java in 
my browser and most spyware is PC-only. So it's unlikely (though not 
impossible) that my computer has been hacked by someone with a rabid 
aversion to Macs and the inability to make their hack work well.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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