What to Do If Your Favorite Website Won’t Load
In most cases, we take the Internet for granted. So when something goes wrong (like a Twitter glitch or your boss decides to block Reddit at work), it can come as a real shock.
But if your favorite website won’t load or you keep getting the error message, there is no reason to despair. Instead, try these tricks (with gHacks ) to figure out what’s wrong and find a solution.
Given the possibilities
There are several different reasons why a website might not load and you should be able to fix the problem with little effort.
Perhaps the page you are trying to visit might be down due to excessive traffic, some kind of coding error, or even a cyber attack. In this case, to fix the problem, just wait a few minutes and refresh the page.
On the other hand, it could be a problem on your end. The site may be blacklisted by your security software, or the issue may be related to the browser extension you are using. In this situation, you need to do a little digging on your computer and you might need to uninstall this security software temporarily.
It is also possible that this site has been blocked by your internet service provider, the Wi-Fi network you are using, or even government censorship. If this is the problem, there are several ways to hide your identity so you can bypass any blocks.
With that in mind, let’s dive deeper.
Diagnosing the problem
The first thing you need to do is confirm if this site is not available to everyone or just to you. There are tons of websites dedicated to just that – try Down For Everyone or Just Me . You can also search Twitter or Reddit for the site name to see what’s going on. If it is truly offline, people are likely to complain about it elsewhere on the internet.
Assuming the problem is really yours, there are several different ways to figure out what the problem is. First, try using a different browser or visit the site in incognito mode. If that doesn’t work, try temporarily disabling any security software to see if that helps.
Still no luck? Try checking the Hosts file on your computer. Basically, it is an address book for your computer that remembers the sites you visited and adds new ones, and may contain some information about why a certain website is not loading. Use these guides to check the Hosts file on Mac and PC .
Solutions
If you still can’t figure out what is wrong and there is no obvious solution, there are several brute force ways to solve the problem.
If you know (or suspect) that a site is being blocked by your ISP, IT department, or the country you live in, try using a virtual private network (VPN). It is a tool that spoofs your address so that it appears that you are visiting a site from another country or region where it is not blocked. If you’re new to VPN, here’s our getting started guide .
If you don’t feel like installing a VPN, you can also try a homepage proxy that allows you to visit websites anonymously. All you have to do is go to the start page and use the search engine to find your site. Then, instead of the main link, click the link just below it that says “View Through Ixquick Proxy”. This should help you bypass any blocks.
Finally, you can check the Wayback Machine , an Internet archive, to see older versions of the site you are looking for. This is useful if the website is really down or you just need to find an old article or page that has been removed. After all, nothing on the internet ever goes away.