Question Writer Tracker Manual/Frequently Asked Questions/Error Message

What is the reason for this error message I get when I try to publish to Question Writer Tracker?

This error message indicates that Question Writer is having difficulty connecting to the internet. This can be for a number of different reasons.

Internet Connection

First of all you should check that you can access other websites on your computer, if you can then your internet connection is okay.

Firewall

It might also be that your firewall or security software is preventing access to the internet from Question Writer. This is likely to be the problem even if you can connect to the Question Writer Forum. The forum link launches your browser, but the quiz upload accesses the internet directly from within the software.

Try disabling the firewall temporarily to see if that helps (and confirm if that is causing the problem) but remember to enable it again as it is not a good idea to keep your firewall switched off.

Usually an alert will be displayed (from your firewall) asking you if you want to let the software (Question Writer) connect to the internet - you've got to tell it 'Yes'. If it doesn't ask, it might have an exception list where you can add Question Writer to the list of exceptions. The steps to follow will depend on the firewall you're using - but if you've got Vista or XP, you can access the built in firewall at

Start->Control Panel->Security Center->Windows Firewall->Allow a Program Through Windows Firewall->Add Program->Browse

and Choose,

C:\Program Files\Question Writer 3\QuestionWriter.exe

Your firewall might also be on your router or corporate network in which case you may have less control over it. You should speak to your systems administrator for help in resolving the problem.

Proxy Settings

If your computer is on a network that uses a proxy to connect to the internet and you're using .NET 1.1, this can cause difficulties for Question Writer. If you think this might be the problem there are two ways to resolve the problem.

1. Uninstall the .NET 1.1 framework. You can do this in Add/Remove programs, and the relevant entry is 'Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1'. You'll need a more recent version of the framework installed too. You may already have one installed - try starting Question Writer to find out. If not, you can download .NET 2.0 from Microsoft. [[1]]

2. Change your proxy setting in Internet Explorer so they are are set statically, rather than dynamically. You can do this in Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> Lan Settings -> Proxy Server.

Make sure 'Use a proxy server for your LAN' is checked.

The values for 'Address' and 'Port' should be available from your system administrator.

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