little red cross?

[skold17]

Sometimes when i go onto a websit (this has happened a few times), The pictures dont load but instead a little box with a little red cross appears? what is it and is there any way that i can get rid off it?

I have tried in my internet options to make sure that show pictures is selected but they remain little red crosses?

thx.

[fo3nix]

what sites for example? It often just means that the images aren't on the server that's holding the website; i.e. you can't do anything about it.

[Buenchico]

The 'little red cross' indicates that, for some reason, the picture can't be loaded. The usual reasons are:

1. A broken link on the website. (i.e. the picture isn't actually on the web server or it's at a different location on the server from where the web page is seeking it).

2. The picture is actually stored on a different server from the main contents of the web page and there are problems with the picture server. (So, the main part of the page loads OK but the pictures can't load because the server which they're on is down or overloaded).

You can't do anything about either of the above because this problems are remote from your PC but, to continue the list, . . .

3. There is a flaw in your browser's software. (I used to experience lots of 'little red cross' problems with Internet Explorer. Most of these seemed to disappear when I updated my browser with the latest downloads from Microsoft. More recently, however, I've changed to a much better browser than IE, Firefox, which is better, faster and more stable. Little red crosses are now extremely rare. If you haven't ditched IE yet, now's the time to do it: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ ).

4. Some firewalls (particularly ZoneAlarm) are 'over-zealous' in what they block. (Users of photofile.ru have frequently reported ZoneAlarm blocking images). Check your firewall's log to see which sites which it's been blocking traffic from. If you recognise the servers as the ones which you've been trying to access, then you'll have to change your firewall settings.

So, there are various possible causes for the problem and some possible solutions but, if you're still using IE, the first thing to try has to be a decent browser!

Chris