SANParks.org Forums

Some forumites have experienced a problem where they repeatedly get logged off the site - even when they are actively posting and reading articles. I've had to the extent that I repeatedly log in, immediately click on Board index and discover that I've already been logged off.

The first thing that you should try is deleting your cookies. Try this first!

If that doesn't work, then try the advice in this tut, and hard code your proxy server. It worked for me!

A "proxy server" (sometimes also called a cache) basically acts as a broker between you and the internet. ISPs run them to save bandwidth by serving up "cached" content and to make web-surfing faster.

Hard-coding the cache is not an ideal solution from a technical point of view, because once you've hard-coded this, if your ISP changes the name of their proxy or if the particular one you've hard-coded is down for maintenance, then you'll need to change this setting manually. Usually the aim is to make the proxying and caching "transparent" to the end-user. This is a workaround!

Note: This is possibly of more relevance to Saffies - with all the bandwidth in some countries, I'm not sure whether ISPs in more fortunate countries (fortunate bandwidth-wise ) use caches.


Thanks to bahamut for the initial suggestion and links!

Step 1: Get the name and port number of the your ISP's proxy server

Each ISP has its own proxy server, just like it has its own mail server. You will need to know the name of your ISP's proxy server.

For SAIX (Telkom) try the following:
cache.saix.net:8080
cache.saix.net:3128
dsl-cache.saix.net:8080

I used the top one.

If you're not on SAIX (Telkom) you'll need to phone your ISP and ask them, unless you happen to know the answer.

Step 2: Set the proxy (Firefox)

1. Click Tools | Options. The Options window appears.

2. Click the Advanced tab and click Settings. The Connection Settings window appears.

3. Click the button next to Manual Proxy Configuration. Enter the name of your cache and the port number. Double-check that you haven't made any typos!



4. Click OK | OK.

Step 2: Set the proxy (Internet Explorer)

1. Click Tools | Internet Options. The Internet Options window appears.

2. Click Connections | LAN Settings. (I'm assuming that you're on an ADSL connection. Can't test dialup. ) The Local Area Network (LAN) Settings window appears.

3. Tick the box next to "Use a proxy server for your LAN." In the Address box, type the address of the proxy server, and in the Port box, the port number.

4. Click OK, OK.

Step 3: Test!

Go to a few sites that you visit regularly and test that you can still browse. If not, you've made a mistake!

Try connecting to the forums, and see if this tut has resolved your problems with being logged off. If it has, great! If not, then and you should rather remove the proxy settings (remember that they are a workaround, and have some drawbacks).