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Technical Questions

Helpful Tips for Watching and Listening to streaming media files.

Common Windows Media Problems

Media Player FAQ's

Knowledge Base Search

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What's a firewall?
A firewall is a security device used to protect companies from unauthorised access to their servers. This means that computers outside this protected internal network cannot make a direct connection to a computer behind the firewall. Therefore, a computer behind a firewall cannot have direct access to the Internet, as the Internet is, itself, a giant network of computers. For access to take place there must be an intermediary, a proxy server. This acts as a gateway where the firewall can determine whether the requested connections between the two computers are permitted.
How does a firewall affect my viewing?
If your computer is behind a firewall, you will need to connect to a proxy server designed to handle the protocol. See your system administrator for further details on how to do this.
Why doesn't it connect sometimes?
At times you may experience difficulties connecting to audio/video clips and will receive error messages from the player. One of the main problems is usually network congestion. This means the WindowsMedia Player was not receiving enough data to maintain a constant connection to the server. The problem could be excessive network traffic on either the Internet or a LAN connection. You can try accessing the clip again to see if it was simply a short period of excessive traffic. If the clip disconnects again, however, then you will need to access it at a time when the network traffic is lighter.
You are behind a firewall. You will need to contact your system administrator to see if you can access streaming content via a proxy server.