The Lonesome Road

Part 1:

As our first practical assignment in Computer Networks, we had to create a socket based system to have client-server communication over TCP. That was pretty simple. However, once that was done, we were told to modify it. Now it has to be a system where five clients can interact with a server and pass messages to each other through the server. Basically, it’s a chat server implementation. The client passes the IP address and the message to the server and the server decides which client is supposed to receive it. This requires a look-up table where the client IP addresses and the socket to which they are bound are stored. Also, the server is supposed to have a broadcast option i.e it can message all the clients connected to it. Most of the work is over - the only basic problem is of the buffer. This is where I am stuck. The messages are delayed or lost randomly, inspite of the fact that they manage to reach the server. Have to figure it out by next week.

End of Part 1.

Part 2:
Google mail! Well, there seems to be a sizeable number of users who have problems with their Gmail account. I have seen these as fixes so far.

1. Use Internet Exploror / Netscape Navigator : Browsers like Mozilla, Firefox or Opera have problems accessing Gmail.
2. Turn on ActiveX : This can be done in IE by going to Tools -> Internet Options -> Security Tab -> Internet -> Custol Level and making sure the run ActiveX controls and Plug-Ins is enabled.
3. Run Adware/Spyware checks : Gmail seems to have major issues with Adware and Spyware. You can try using these utilities :
• SpyBot : It’s free and works well. Make sure you update though. Also reports a DSO bug even after it has cleaned it.
• Spyware doctor : Paid software. Monitors cookies and other intrusions.
• NoAdware : Found a couple of entries in my registry that SpyBot missed. Please note you have to register this program for it to clean the system. Also note that SpyBot marked the uninstallation value NoAdware stores in the registry.

I did this and my Gmail seems to be up and running now. Not so sure about Javascript errors, but the latest Javascript platform for IE/Mozilla can be found here .

One last tip - if you have done all this and are still greeted by a blank screen, try pressing Refresh (F5). It seems to work - and I need to do it myself once in a while. Be patient though - Gmail can have a large loading time.

I’m cannot say for sure if these methods will get your mail to work - but they got my Gmail up and running

Happy trying and all the best!