Diagnose why you can’t connect to servers or sites

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Most programs that you use to connect to servers or site on a local network or the Internet display only basic information when a connection attempt fails.

These basic information are usually not enough to find out why the connection failed, and while it sometimes helps to try again, you often need to troubleshoot the issue to find out what is happening.

Operating systems ship with tools that let you do so. You can use basic commands such as ping or tracert for example to find out more about a connection.

The free cross-platform application Why Can't I Connect? has been designed to resolve TCP/IP connection errors.

Diagnose connection errors

The free program displays a blank screen on startup. You need to use the file toolbar or main toolbar to test various connection types. The supported operations include testing the following connections:

• Connection to a Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL server
• Connections to FTP or SFTP servers
• Connections to POP3, IMAP or SMTP servers
• Connections to an IRC server
• Connections to an LDAP server
• Connections to an Usenet server
• Generic client or server connections based on IP address / hostname and port.

To start, select one of the available options and enter IP address / hostname and port information, or other required information, to start the diagnosis of the connection. The process may take a while and you are presented with an overview in the end that helps you find out more about the connection failure.

Note that this dialog is complemented by a log of all connection attempts and look-ups the program made in the main interface.

If the connection fails, you will receive suggestions why no connection could be established to the selected server.

One interesting option that you have is to create a generic server or client and test the connectivity of the computer using them. This can be useful to make sure that generic connection attempts are not blocked. If they are blocked as well, you can be fairly certain that something is preventing the connection (a firewall for instance), and if the connection goes through, you may want to start looking into the service's configuration to double-check that all parameters are in order.

The advanced menu provides you access to the entire socket process from Bind to Close so that you can go through each step of the process one by one.

Why Can't I Connect supports other features, like bridging, which inserts the application between a client and server so that you can better diagnose connection attempts between the two systems.

Closing Words

Why Can't I Connect is a helpful troubleshooting tool for various operating systems that you can use to diagnose connection issues between client and server system

Use QuickSetDNS to change between DNS configurations in a heartbeat

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The DNS system is one of the cornerstones of the Internet. It is used mainly to look up the IP address of a domain name so that the requests reach the right server on the Internet.

Most Internet users are probably using the default DNS service of their Internet Service Provider (ISP). That's not a bad thing most of the time, as it works right out of the box.

There are however a couple of issues that users may identify when they are using the default DNS of their ISP. The following -- incomplete -- list looks at some of the more common issues that you may experience:

• Look-ups may not be as fast as they can be, thus increasing the latency of the connection.
• DNS may be used to block specific websites from being accessed, by either redirecting users away from the original server or by blocking connection attempts outright.
• Your ISPs DNS service may be less reliable, which may result in look-up failures among other things.

Third party DNS providers may fix all those issues for you. In addition, they may offer other features such as phishing or botnet protection, web-based filtering, or typo correction that you can make use of.

QuickSetDNS

Nirsoft's QuickSetDNS is a free portable application for all recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system that enables you to switch between the default DNS provider and alternate providers with two clicks.

The program looks up the default DNS service first and adds it to the list of available services, so that you can go back to it whenever the need arises. It furthermore lists the Automatic DNS configuration and Google's Public DNS server.

If you want to add other providers, say OpenDNS, you can do so easily:

1. Right-click in the main window and select New > DNS Server or use the shortcut Ctrl-N to open the dialog.
2. Type a name for the new service (pick any descriptive name you want), and add at least two server IP addresses separated by a comma.
3. Click OK to save the new server.

The new server is added to the list of available DNS servers. To switch to it select it before you click on the activate DNS button in the interface. If you prefer the keyboard, use the F2 key to activate the selected DNS server.

Note: You may need to select the correct network adapter first before you do so if your computer has multiple interfaces installed.

There is another option that you can make use of to speed things up. You do not have to open the program manually first whenever you want to switch the DNS provider. It is possible to create a command that does so for you. Just select one of the providers in the program window before you select Edit > Copy SetDNS Command Line or press Ctrl-L.

This copies the command to set the selected DNS server to the clipboard. You can add it to a simple batch file for example to change the server with the click on the file.

Verdict

If you need to change DNS servers regularly on your system, for instance for testing purposes or because you are using different services for different purposes, then you may find QuickSetDNS helpful for that task.

Why you need to verify app developers before you download in Windows Store

Why you need to verify app developers before you download in Windows Store

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If you have worked with Windows 8 before you have likely browsed the integrated Windows Store at least once to see what is on offer there. I personally think that Microsoft missed a chance here to include a universal app manager into the system that includes desktop and Windows apps.

While you do get links to some desktop apps right now, it is not the same as downloading verified virus-free programs from the store that auto-update automatically. Plus, I cannot figure out why some desktop apps are listed here while others are not.

Windows Store has its issues (this is a review of Windows 8 store, not Windows 8.1 store), and while some can surely be attributed to the store's (young) age, others are harder to explain as they reduce the user experience significantly.

I have talked about deceptive apps in store before, and also pointed out that -- what I called -- Media Player spam was running wild in store.

The situation has not really changed that much it seems since then, as you find those apps still listed in store. What may be even worse is that they still rise to the frontpage of the store every now and then.

A quick look at the new & rising category for instance lists VideoVLC Player there, while an application like LinkedIn HD is listed in the Trending category on the frontpage.

The problem? They are not official apps. Both hop on the bandwagon of popular programs (VLC) or services (LinkedIn) without being affiliated with them in any way.

If you are an experienced computer user, you are probably able to distinguish between first and third party apps published in the store. Inexperienced users on the other hand may install those apps because they believe they are the real deal, when they are not in fact.

Verify app developers

The best way to make sure that an application is legit -- that means a first party app produced by the company that offers a service, website or program-- is to verify the developer that has published it.

Here is what you need to do:

1. Open the application page in Windows Store that you are interested in.
2. Locate the "Published by" information on the page. This is displayed underneath the large screenshot of the app in Windows 8.1
3. Here you find the name of the company or individual.
4. It is usually enough to determine whether an application has been created by the right company or not.
5. The official Facebook application has been published by Facebook, Inc. for example, while applications such as Facebook+ Lite, Facebook Forever, or Facebook Browser by WinApp8, awesome facebook and youtube devs, or iceDevs.
6. You can click on it to display a list of apps that this developer has published. This provides you with additional information. If you see different apps listed here, say a YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn app, you can be fairly certain that this is a third party developer and not a first party one.

Tip: You can alternatively search the Apps for Windows website over at Microsoft as it lists the publisher as well.

Reasons to verify developers

There are two main reasons why you may want to verify developers before you download apps to your system.

1. First to make sure that you are downloading an official app. This is especially important if you need to sign in to a service before you can make use of it. If you do not like the idea of submitting your sign in information through a third party app, then you better make sure you download the real one or connect to the service in your browser.
2. Second to avoid installing apps that are either technical inferior, or rip-offs.

Closing Words

The third party apps used in this article are just examples of what you find in Windows Store currently. There are legit third party apps in store that you can download and use without any issues, but there are also those apps that I would not touch even if someone paid me money to do so.

The best protection against questionable apps is to not install them at all. Even if you are running Windows RT, you have options, like connecting to the websites of said services instead of using apps.

Why you can’t play 1080p or 480p YouTube HTML5 videos in Firefox anymore

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The popular video hosting and streaming website YouTube uses two technologies to stream videos to its users. Either by making use of Adobe Flash, or HTML5 Video, with the latter option marked as experimental for some time now.

Provided that you have a HTML5 capable browser, you can join the HTML5 trial on YouTube to use this technology on the site. The core benefit here is that you do not have to install or use Adobe Flash Player at all.

To do so, load this page on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/html5 and click on the join button on it.

If you have not visited that page for a while, you may notice that Google has added three new bits of information to it. The page not only informs you if your browser supports HTML5 Video, H.264 and WebM VP8, but also if it supports Media Source Extensions.

If you open that page in Firefox, Safari or older browser versions, then you will notice that the browser's don't support it.

Media Source Extensions YouTube

Media Source Extensions explained

The feature, in layman terms, allows web applications such as YouTube or Netflix to generate media streams for playback in JavaScript. This makes way for new features such as adaptive streaming (for instance MPEG-DASH) or live streams, or to transfer encrypted contents to the user, decode it using JavaScript, to play it in the browser afterwards.

A highly technical draft document is available here that provides you with additional information about Media Source Extensions.

YouTube

Firefox HTML5 player YouTube

If you are using the HTML5 video player on YouTube in Firefox, you may have noticed that you do not get to select 1080p or 480p as the video resolution no matter what you do.

YouTube Flash Player

You may have also noticed that you do get to select 1080p if you leave the HMTL5 beta and return to Adobe Flash Player.

Google recently switched to adaptive streaming on YouTube for 480p and 1080p videos by using Media Source Extensions. Since Firefox does not support that feature yet, the option to switch to streams that make use of it becomes unavailable in the browser.

That's why you cannot select 1080p or 480p anymore if you are using Firefox and have joined the HMTL5 video trial.

The only way around this for now is to use Adobe Flash to play videos on YouTube.

Mozilla

Mozilla is working on an implementation of Media Source Extensions, but  it is not clear yet when it will become available. You can follow these two bugs on Bugzilla to monitor the progress made in this regard.