"Page cannot be found"

Q:
I often get the error message of "Page cannot be found" when I visit certain Web sites. What is the cause of this and is there anything I can do to change it?

A:
There are actually several reasons why the "Page cannot be found" (also seen as "404 - Not Found") error message may come up. Here are a few of them explained.

1.) The Web page you're trying to view has been removed or renamed. This is one of the most common causes. In this case, you can try scaling the URL down a bit to see if that helps.
For example, if it's listed as www.worldstart.com/tips/nopage.htm, you may want to try www.worldstart.com/tips instead. Or, you could simply use www.worldstart.com. You can then look for the lost page from there. If you just keep going backwards with the URL, you'll eventually get to the page you want.

2.) Your Internet connection has gone dead. In this instance, simply try logging on again.

3.) Internet congestion during peak hours (this is especially common with dial-up) can also prevent Web pages from loading properly. If it takes too long for a page to be found, your browser may just give up. When that happens, you should just try the page again later (or you can hit the Refresh button).

4.) The Web page you want to see is getting a lot of traffic, so the server is bogged down. All you can really do in this case is try again later.