No simple answer.
I did not say that “he had trouble with all three browsers.”
I said, “These 3 Internet browsers have the problem:
Brave Browser (includes some Mozilla code)
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox”
By “the problem,” I mean having some connection issues, trying to quickly connect to FreeRepublic.com.
For some reason - *possibly* unique to each of those three Internet browsers - they either stall, give up, or become idle . . . and then, after idle (usually more than 1 minute) suddenly make the connection.
There are a lot of working parts, involved in making a connection, and then maintaining a connection. Too much to layout here in detail.
Brave Browser had an upgrade on Monday, 03/15/2021. Brave Browser is mostly based upon Chromium, but there is also some Mozilla code involved. The BB people are mostly, very cryptic about the details of what is actually upgraded, and what might be bumped, changed, replaced.
So, maybe the Brave Browser upgrade did something - I cannot discover that “something” unless I spend a long, long time pursuing it.
There could be a combination of things, for each of the three Internet browsers.
The home (NTT America, Inc.) for the old FreeRepublic.com IP address: 209.157.64.200 , still remembers that IP address refers to both:
freerepublic.com
www.freerepublic.com
Somewhere, there is possibly a DNS record, for that condition; and, I do not know how that may be confusing some methods used, for establishing connections to FreeRepublic.com.
In my reply 38, I suggested that users with the problem, edit their hosts file, adding the line:
45.79.56.181 freerepublic.com
I much later realized that both entries in the hosts file, helped:
45.79.56.181 freerepublic.com
45.79.56.181 www.freerepublic.com
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/
In general, I suggest connecting to:
https://freerepublic.com/perl/login
https://freerepublic.com/focus/search
IOW, there, do not use:
https://www. . . .
Throughout yesterday (Tuesday, 03/16/2021) I monitored several DNS servers, testing their speeds of response, to resolving domain name “freerepublic.com”.
Sometimes, there were significant delays . . . but last night, I realized that more probable, is that there is something going on, with the three Internet browsers mentioned above -— they are each, somehow, a party to their own problems connecting.
DNS servers need DNS records (wherever DNS records are stored), to be accurate. Mistakes become a penalty re performance.
DNS servers that respond to your computer, are not necessarily the same DNS servers that respond to somebody else’s server.
Your DNS servers, might get good DNS record info.
Somebody else’s DNS servers, might struggle with tidbits of bad DNS record info.
The DNS servers that you believe, your computer is using, might not actually be the case.
Windows OS
https://askleo.com/find-dns-server-used-pc/
EXCERPT:
In Windows 10, right-click on the Start menu and click on Command Prompt (or Windows PowerShell — either will do). In most other versions of Windows, click on Start, then All Programs, then Accessories, and finally on Command prompt.
Type “ipconfig /all” followed by Enter. You’ll get a lot of information.
In the midst of all that information, you can see “DNS Servers” listed.
Mac OS
Terminal.app command line:
$ cat /etc/resolv.conf | grep ^nameserver | cut -d “ “ -f 2
In that last command, there is a standard, run-of-the-mill, single space between each of the double-quotes.
Possible clue, re Brave Browser:
If I refresh / reload a webpage at FreeRepublic.com, within 20 seconds, then Brave Browser maintains a fast connection.
But, if I wait too long, then Brave Browser enters an idle state . . . and over 1 minute will pass by, before Brave Browser is able to refresh / reload.
Reply 99
[[I did not say that “he had trouble with all three browsers.”
I said, “These 3 Internet browsers have the problem:]]
Nope- he said he had problems with all three- could connect with some but not log in- this could be, as mentioned an indication of something in common- and narrows down the possibilities- if it was just one browser and not the others- then that could indicate the problem unique to just that browser of course-
anyways- you found the issue- it’s solved- good call on it being the file- -