Error 404: how to fix it? Error 404: "Page not found"

Probably, it is not necessary to say that any person visiting Internet sites, at least once, was faced with the impossibility of displaying the page when the code 404 fails. At once the question arises: "How to fix it?". Error 404 (page not found) can occur for various reasons. And here in terms of the factors of its appearance there can be several main aspects: client errors, communications or software failures, server failures or simply lack of a page at the specified address.

What does 404 mean?

The malfunction itself means only one thing: for some reason the page requested on the Internet can not be found for a specific address request. In other words, it is simply absent.

But this is the simplest situation for which you need to find a solution, how to fix it (error 404 "Page not found"). The page itself can actually exist, but access to it is not carried out, blocked or restricted. This situation can be explained by an example. You know that an item must be on the shelf of the cabinet. Naturally, you purposefully open the cabinet and look at the shelf, but ... you need things there. This is one aspect. On the other hand, you may simply not have seen the right thing, because it was overwhelmed by others or just lay aside. This situation with error 404 also occurs.

Possible causes of the failure

Before talking about the failure (how to fix, how to fix, error 404 "Page not found" appears again and again), let's look at the list of possible reasons for its occurrence. The following are usually indicated as the main and most common:

• Incorrect input of address;
• Communication disruption;
• Glitches in browsers;
• Problems with the functioning of the server;
• Physical lack of a page on the server, etc.

The main types of error 404

Typically, the 404 error code is exactly the same as the Windows Update failure code - 0x80244019.

But the output message in browsers may look different. The main types of messages are:

• 404 Page not found;
• HTTP 404 Not Found;
• 404 File or directory not found;
• Error 404 Not Found ;
• HTTP 404;
• The requested URL was not found on this server
• Error 404;
• 404 Not Found;
• 404 Error.

In principle, despite the different messages, error code 404 remains the same, and the essence of the problem does not change from this. Let's see how this situation can be corrected by the most simple methods.

Error 404: what to do? The simplest method of correction

To begin with, you should try simply to update the page, because it can appear even with a fleeting communication failure or with an overload of the server on which the page is located.

To do this, all browsers without exception use the F5 key, the button on the panel or the corresponding command from the menu. If this does not help, you should check the Internet connection, because if there is no connection, this is the error.

Very often, a failure occurs because of the user's inattention, when he simply enters the address with errors. The question arises: "How can I fix the problem?". Error 404 "Page not found" is removed by the most common verification of the correctness of writing the resource address with the repeated entry of the correct value. In addition, if an error is received while visiting a linked resource, you should try to move up one level. For example: the failure occurs on the website website.ru/a/b.html. In this case, you need to go up one level, corresponding to the address website.ru/a.html, and then already on it to search for the necessary link to an inaccessible page.

Finally, in the question of how to remove error 404, you can simply specify an available query on any search engine to make sure that the page does exist. In extreme cases, you should check access to it, say, from a mobile device. You can use more advanced means of initialization.

For this, the powerful Internet service WhoIs, on which the search is specified, is perfectly suitable, and the results will show the binding of the page to a specific place or provider, not to mention the confirmation of its physical existence.

After all, if the problem is network configuration, you might have to try changing the DNS server addresses, which sometimes helps to fix the problem. But such situations regarding the error 404 are extremely rare.

It also happens that the user does not depend on anything. The owner or rightholder could transfer the page to another resource or hosting, without having previously linked the old address of the page to the new location, because of which redirection does not occur. Maybe the server crashed, or its work was broken by the same DDoS attack. There's nothing you can do about it. At best, you can contact the site owner by e-mail and find out the causes of the problem.

Recommendations for Web Developers

As for web developers, usually such failures can be identified and attempted to correct by appropriate methods.

Most experts recommend using the Webmaster Tools Google Web Masters Tool, similar tools of "Yandex", as well as a special plugin Broken Link Checker for the platform WordPress. But, as it is believed, it is better to conduct a comprehensive audit with the use of all funds.

In addition to all of the above, to check the link can be quite simple and on specialized sites, where it is enough just to enter the address, activate the verification process and get the corresponding result.

Conclusion

Instead of the result it remains to say that although the error 404 in all its manifestations is not critical, nevertheless, any user or web developer is capable of delivering a lot of headaches. As for the elimination of such failures, in the case of server errors, an ordinary user can not even try to influence the situation, it still does not work. And in the rest you just need to be more careful when entering addresses and make sure that there are no violations in the work of the currently active Internet connection. If it really does not help at all, you can use utilities like Microsoft Fix It !, focused on automatic troubleshooting, including Internet connections. But in most cases, the appearance of such an error is not related to program failures and the change of some parameters, the situation is not corrected (with the exception of DNS addresses and other network settings).