InformAction Forums

When forcing DFS website to HTTPS https://dfs.us.dell.com/Pages/DFSHomePage.aspx it gives the following error, why?

Server Error in '/' Application.
The resource cannot be found.
Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested URL: /Pages/DFSHomePage.aspx

Without NoScript force HTTPS, it loads just fine, any ideas what's wrong?

That site isn't in my "Force" list under either "Behavior" or "Cookies", yet still get the error message, so first gut reaction is that NS Force HTPS shouldn't be affecting it at all. Will look further.
Do you have that site in your force list?

Edit: Put in "exceptions" to both lists. Same error message. Still smell something else going on.

Edit 2: My trusty workaround for such situations works again! Go to the same site without the s , i. e., http://etc., and see the unsecured login. Sneaky hack: Enter nothing and click "Login". Now taken to secure login page, the one you wanted, with no errors, even without putting them in the "exceptions" list. Sounds like they don't want the first page secured.

Well its hard to say that because when I remove it from the list, it works fine. So its sort of a cause and effect for me. I logged in right after I removed it just fine. Put it back on the list, it breaks, take it off, logs in fine.

Now as you discovered, it starts out with http at first BUT it IS indeed an https resource. The original page loads here: http://dfs.us.dell.com/Pages/DFSHomePage.aspx and then goes to https://dfs.us.dell.com/... so not sure why forcing it to https and therefore making it https://dfs.us.dell.com/Pages/DFSHomePage.aspx causes it to break.

Its a piss poor implementation by Dell for sure but still, if its there its there and should load.

GµårÐïåñ wrote:Well its hard to say that because when I remove it from the list, it works fine. So its sort of a cause and effect for me. I logged in right after I removed it just fine. Put it back on the list, it breaks, take it off, logs in fine.

I think we might have an F2-F3 difference here. I get the error at the https regardless of whether it's in the Force list.

GµårÐïåñ wrote:Its a piss poor implementation by Dell for sure but still, if its there its there and should load.

Agree 100% on both counts. Suggest e-mailing webmaster -- I've had some success with that. Not always, but sometimes. Sad that they should need their users to tell them of their flawed site design, but as a site designer, you know that better than anyone else
If you do try it, would love to know what is the response, if any.

Dell is on my all time S*** list for being one of the worst companies on the planet. Their support sucks and even more so when they shipped all their operations to the lowest bidders in the slums of hell. I HAVE contacted them, not a single reply, not ONE. I used to do a lot of business with them but our company and most of our affiliates dumped them as soon as our contracts were up and purchases were paid for, they suck and treat their customers terribly. Its insane. The only reason I need to log in and check is because courtesy of their website breech and poor security, accounts have been compromised and as long as we have an open line of credit, I need to keep an eye on it to make sure no charges appear out of the blue.

That *does* suck, big time. As the old saying goes, "Vote with your dollars", and you've done that. Now, is it not possible to close that line of credit and replace it with another source, so that you can get rid of them forever?

Too bad that companies don't realize that poor word-of-mouth (or -of-web) wipes out millions of their dollars spent on advertising. And good word-of-mouth is cheaper and better than any amount of advertising. Sorry to hear of your problems, G, but at least you've helped steer others away from having such problems.

Hope you can replace the LOC.

Unfortunately no, that's a corporate finance issue and as the primary assigned to that credit line, its on my ass to watch it, even though its finance that chose to keep it open. I know completely ASININE.

Unfortunately for the consumer, they don't care. I mean think about it, how much people HATE AOL and yet they are still in business. Granted they are scrambling by buying ICQ and then merging with Time Warner and then buying Netscape and so on and so forth, which shows they are desperate but they are still in business and enough stupid people use their service to keep them in business. There is a chump born each day, the miracle of capitalism for you and how bad businesses stay in business.

I want to include an apology for all the AOL users out there offended by the statement of fact above

GµårÐïåñ wrote:... I mean think about it, how much people HATE AOL and yet they are still in business.... enough stupid people use their service to keep them in business. There is a chump born each day, the miracle of capitalism for you and how bad businesses stay in business.

I want to include an apology for all the AOL users out there offended by the statement of fact above

Before any AOL users write back, let me just say that some people, generally those with no interest in tech or what goes on under the hood at all, *like* that AOL holds your hand for you, has all those "services", "buddy list", etc. This includes members of my family. This might be unfathomable to the likes of you and me, but the above relatives, for instance, have not the slightest interest in my opinion on the issue, and it's not my place to hold a gun to their heads and make them listen. In business, I sometimes deal with *businesses* who use AOL and send me e-mail from there, complete with AOLspam at the bottom. Of course, I receive mail in plain-text only for safety reasons, so I don't see the graphics, just the captions. I tried mentioning to one how unprofessional this looked for her business. No interest.

So we just have to accept "different strokes for different folks". One of the miracles of capitalism is that it does accommodate widely varying tastes, including the taste for AOL and your and my preference for something different. So for any readers here who like AOL, that is your right. I personally agree with GµårÐïåñ"'s assessment of AOL, but to each their own. Cheers!

Thank you Tom for adding that but I honestly meant no offense to the users, I was more referring to AOL as a business and my apologies if it offends any user, of course to each their own. I have a friend who uses AOL and she sends out mass email and when I told her, for the love of god use BCC instead of putting 100+ addresses in the TO line, she wrote: "I would except this stupid thing won't allow it, I have asked AOL and they say it was by design, sorry..." so even the users of AOL think its stupid but for some reason they are comfortable and don't want the change or afraid of it, who knows. There is stupid people everywhere, not limited to AOL and I hope the users know that what I said wasn't a general 100% blanket insult to all users of AOL, just an observation from my own perspective. For god's sake, my own mom and sister still use dialup and until 1 year ago didn't have emails and my sister is 6 years younger than me. So not a generation gap issue. The concept of DSL or anything faster than dialup is blasphemous to them. You don't want to hear the crap I say about them, to them and in front of them. They have destroyed a total of 2 desktops and 4 laptops in the matter of 5 years because of viruses and general idocities that shock me. I tell them, is it so damn hard to run an update? NOT using IE? Not playing every damn thing that comes to you in an email attachment? To add to how funny this is, and I mean sad funny, my mother has a CIS degree, yeap Computer Information System, granted its from the ancient days of when Cobol was still being used, pre-y2k, but for the love of creation, I would expect better.

The mom and sister stories would be funny if they weren't so sad and pathetic. Ummm, did she get her degree from an online school through a spam email? No, you said it was from the ancient days when COBOL was still in use (it still is, btw; "one of the oldest programming languages still in active use"), so perhaps from a school advertising on a matchbox cover?

GµårÐïåñ wrote: I have a friend who uses AOL and she sends out mass email and when I told her, for the love of god use BCC instead of putting 100+ addresses in the TO line, she wrote: "I would except this stupid thing won't allow it, I have asked AOL and they say it was by design, sorry..."

I DID get one relative to stop putting my email address in the TO field, because I didn't know all of the other 99 recipients and they didn't need to know my name or email. That finally *did* sink through; it's now done properly: email to self and BCC the list -- so it CAN be done with AOL. Have no clue why your friend can't or why AOL told her they couldn't (or why they would design it that way -- that *would* be stupid design). The relative's change was made at least a year ago, I think, but not sure, so if your friend hasn't tried recently, have her retry. It should work.

Or she could use AOL for ISP and get an account at Yahoo for web mail. Or get Thunderbird and hook it to Yahoo lol!

No, she got her degree at Cal State LA and I know Cobol is still in use, its still taught for the concept of structured programming. She's 63 but my sister is a USC graduate in Performing Arts and Broadcasting and works for CNN, so I expected a bit better. Now she is not as bad as it comes across but they both have some fallacies in what the internet can and cannot do and what wireless can and cannot do and hence why they stay away from "always on" DSL because creepy crawlers can invade them, bluh bluh, you get the usual paranoia and fall victim to the same basic failures in due diligence. My dad always jokes, to them you are the antichrist for being a hacker and such an advanced user, because they can't grasp how you do it. Oh well, moot point, to each their own. I have a friend who grew up in this generation, younger than me by 10 years and still uses a typewriter and doesn't come near a computer unless its at a library to look up a book and even then he prefers the card table. I started my love when I had a xoom 1200 baud modem and the good old excaliber bbs, now those were the days, my mom couldn't understand why no one would ever call the house, until she realized, it was busy

As for my AOL friend, I personally think she just didn't do it right or was lazy to figure it out and maybe was using an older version of the software that can't do it and hasn't updated. I don't know and I don't care except the annoyance of people who hit "Reply All" to respond to her and I get all the drivel filling up my already full mailbox. I actually have a filter setup to intercept and put those annoyances in another folder for me to skim later before batch deleting. The last time I asked her to take my name off, she got so offended and stopped talking to me for weeks, so I let it go as to keep her happy, the sacrifices we make.