Help with error messages
Firewalls blocking referrer URLs
Possible problems when using the Online Reference Library
One of the few problems you may have when trying to access our online reference library from home (or any PC other than a Perth and Kinross council one), could be caused by firewall software installed on your computer. The error message will usually say something like "..could not identify your computer".
We have to pay a subscription for our online reference services and that subscription allows us to give access only to Perth and Kinross library members. Some service providers monitor this by checking the name of the web page you have just come from (or have been 'referred' from - hence the technical term for this, 'referrer URL').
There is a feature of some personal firewalls that conflicts with this process. These firewalls, as part of the standard security measures they implement on your PC, don't tell web sites where you have been referred from. The services that rely on this information can't check you have come from a trusted Perth and Kinross web page and therefore won't let you in.
Firewalls recognise this as a potential restriction and it should be possible to configure them to allow the passing of referrer URLs to specific sites. This means you can keep the general security block in place, while still allowing access to this information for specific sites that you trust.
For users of Norton Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security, instructions are available in the support section of the Symantec web site. Just click on the 'Norton Firewall support' External Link at the top right hand side of this page.
