FORMGRIDS

i have na used it form months prefer free TAB Sheets

WAHAHAHAHAH

Sylvester wrote: i have na used it form months prefer free TAB Sheets

WAHAHAHAHAH

hahaha...Sly....

Ritchie try a portable application of Firefox...it will help prove if you browser/PC is the problem...which I suspect it is....

portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

The Formgrids website has been under sustained and intense attack for over two weeks now. The attack is in a form known as DOS or DDOS, which stands for "Denial of Service" attack or "Distributed Denial of Service" attack. I have managed to keep the site up and running for the most part despite the attacks. To do so I have installed some threat prevention software. This software blocks IP addresses when it detects a threat. But this seems to cause some legit users from accessing the site too. So I have been "training" it to not block legit requests and things are getting better. There were much higher numbers of users on the site yesterday and today meaning the site was largely accessible and I am slowly winning the battle.

I will keep you posted. But it has been a very trying (and challenging) period for me.

Hey wolf all the best

I tried to open in ie8 earlier and was bombarded with ads

Thanks Wolfgang. Been bricking it that it was only me not being able to access.

Matter of interest what is a denial of service threat? Sorry not very IT literate?

Update on Formgrids:

This morning, SA time, the site is running well.

I did some more "Threat Preventer" training last night and I have sorted out a strangeness that occurs with Apple devices and possibly even the Safari browser which was seen as a suspicious activity - one of these less obvious type of problem.

This seems to have resolved many legit blockages which has gone down noticeably.

The attacks have reduced (at least for now). So let's see what today brings.

Some advice:

Folks still on Windows XP, rather use Firefox or Chrome as you browser and stay off IE8. Microsoft no longer supports IE8 and it is now a dangerous browser to use.

Folks on Win 7 or 8 (or Vista) ensure you upgrade your IE to the latest. But you have a choice of IE, Firefox and/or Chrome.

Doesn't directly affect Formgrids, but it will make your experience better.

Hi Richie

DOS is a type of attack, just as it's name says, that is designed to prevent a website from servicing it's client base. In other words, it bombards the website with thousands of useless requests so the server is too busy to respond to legit requests.

So, in a sense, users not being able to get onto the site, slow response, pages not showing up properly, etc., could be symptoms of a DOS attack.

DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service attack), as a point of interest, is where the attack comes from multiple places. In this case the attacker has pre-prepared "zombie" computers around the world and has now triggered them into action.

Any computer that is not securely setup could either potentially become a "zombie" computer or is already one unbeknownst to the computer owner.

PS: A DOS or DDOS attacks are difficult to defend against. One's own defence can aid the attack.

Formgrids has always been free. And there will always be a free section of Formgrids.

Hi Lucky_Dude,

I will look into this.

We have a few months ago turned to a new source of data for SA, ZW and MU data. This had it's own challenges to implement but it did allow me to write software to fully automate the loading system (which we never had before). But it does have the downside that human eyes don't verify all inputted data. So some data errors and inaccuracies are always possible.

Hi Wolf,

Is there an email address or phone number to get hold of you if we still experiencing problems and help how to resolve them?

I cannot even get to the home page using Google Chrome ... this is the error below:


Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.formgrids.com

Try reloading: www.­formgrids.­com

Correct address for Formgrids:

Most browsers will accept any of the following plus more and the Formgrids software will correctly redirect you to the correct address:

• www.formgrids.com
• formgrids.com
• www.formgrids.co.za
• formgrids.co.za

Normally, there is no need to type in "http://" first.