Here's a step-by-step guide for Windows on how to log in. NOTE: You need to be an administrator on your machine. You don't have to do anything scary, but you need admin privileges to do the following simple task in step 1.
Step 1: Open Notepad as Administrator
Navigate to Notepad. If you don't have a shortcut handy you can just click the Windows Start button (or in Windows 8+ just press the Windows key) and start typing notepad and it will show as the result. Right-click on it and choose run as administrator.
NOTE: If "run as administrator" is not an option, you aren't an administrator and can't make this change. Sorry!
Step 2: Open hosts file
Once notepad is open, choose to open a file, and then navigate to the path depicted in the screenshot. BE SURE TO CHANGE THE DROPDOWN TO ALL FILES! Open the file called simply "hosts".
Step 3: Add FreeRepublic
Add the IP and domain. Note: You should use the TAB key to create the space between the IP and the domain. If there are other entries in your file, just add the line as depicted in the screenshot at the bottom on its own line. Make sure you DON'T start the line with the # symbol (it's used to "comment out" all the other text in the file).Then save the file and close notepad.
Step 4: Go to FreeRepublic
For good measure, close and re-open your browser. FR should now load fine and you'll be able to login.Should there ever be notice that the problem is fixed, just repeat the steps and delete the line you added.
Happy FReeping!