Web TV or MSN TV users - need your help

[woody100]

We have a MSNTV user who used to access the forum using Web TV and now is having difficulty logging in.

I know there are a few Web TV and MSN TV users out there.

Have you experienced any problems with logging in, changing passwords, etc. and if so, how did you get around them.

I'd like to help this user out, but we don't have a unit here and Microsoft has stopped providing an emulator.

Thanks to anyone that has any tips.

--FreeAdvice Tech Support--


NOTE: This is a non-legal issue and that is why it is posted in "Open Technical Issues and Requests (Not Legal Questions)"

[TheGeekess]

Hey, Woody, I'm racking my brains to figure out what's going on with the MSN-TV user and how to help them. Best I can do right now is to try to log-in with my "vintage*" 3Com Audrey and see what happens with that (basic browser that doesn't support a heck of a lot of bells and whistles).

Is it possible to get some more information about the errors that are occurring?

*Think 2K make.

[woody100]

Sorry for the delay in responding. It is taking awhile to figure this out.

I appreciate your offer very much, but I don't think it will help.

It seems pretty clear that we have a problem with cookies that is behind all of this and we are just trying to come up with the best way to deal with it. On WebTV the cookies are not stored locally (they are stored on Microsofts servers somewhere) and this appears to be the root of the issue. Now that they are out-of-sync, we are hving a Dickens of a time getting things working again.

Still working on it and I'll keep you posted.

Again, thanks for the kind offer.

[TheGeekess]

No problem, Woody. Just trying to help. I appreciate the update.

[The Occultist]

Is there a way to force a local cookie, even just a decoy one, in order to trick FA into accepting them?

[TheGeekess]

Originally Posted by The Occultist

Is there a way to force a local cookie, even just a decoy one, in order to trick FA into accepting them?

AFAIK, not on these TV-top units. No storage capacity.

[The Occultist]

What about using the website www.unblocktorrentspy.com ?

This site was originally used to mask one's IP to access the website TorrentSpy which, before shutting down altogether, merely blocked US IP's from accessing the site. Is it possible that this website stores cookies server-side so that no cookies from the originating computer are necessary?

[woody100]

Originally Posted by The Occultist

What about using the website [url]www.unblocktorrentspy.com[/url] ?

This site was originally used to mask one's IP to access the website TorrentSpy which, before shutting down altogether, merely blocked US IP's from accessing the site. Is it possible that this website stores cookies server-side so that no cookies from the originating computer are necessary?

For security reasons, cookies can only be stored locally, except if you are using a web tv where the "local" part of the system is on Microsoft's servers (confusing huh?). So I don't think that would work. Besides, it is difficult to get Web TV to work on a "normal" site. Tricking it to do something unusual would probably be more work than it is worth.

But this was an interesting and innovative idea! I appreciate the help.