Re: Microsoft Internet Explorer and autoconfig. Does it work?

*sigh* You're right, it seems.

I just thought to check the logs:

telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:50:44 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:50:45 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:50:45 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:50:58 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:51:11 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:51:15 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:51:17 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134
telbrown.brisnet.org.au - - [06/Feb/1998:18:51:20 +1000] "GET /autoproxy.pac HTTP/1.1" 2
00 134

...and so on for another two hundred lines... I know he's one of our few MSIE users, but I don't know the version.
*sigh* Can't the stupid S.O.B's do _anything_ right?

Neil Murray wrote:

> I think I found a problem with Autoconfig and Microsoft Internet
> Explorer 4.01. What I want is some other people to try these same tests and
> see if they can be replicated.
>
> These tests were done in conjunction with David Yeung (dy@aone.com.au)
> and I thank him for his assistance.
>
> The problem in short is that MSIE 4.01 on Win95 & NT4 when using a
> dialup connection refetches the autoconfig script for each frame/image element
> on a web page. When using a LAN connection it doesn't do it.
>
> Software O/S Connection style Multiple reloads
> -------- ---- ---------------- ----------------
> MSIE 4.0 Win 3.11 LAN (ethernet) No
> MSIE 4.0 Win 3.11 Dial-up 33.6kb No
>
> MSIE 4.01 Win 95 LAN (ethernet) No
> MSIE 4.01 Win 95 Dial-up 33.6kb Yes
>
> MSIE 4.01 NT 4 LAN (ethernet) No
> MSIE 4.01 NT 4 Dial-up 33.6kb Yes
>
> Note Netscape Communicator and MSIE 3.01 have no problems with multiple
> reloads occurring. This was using stock Microsoft dialing software and a
> just downloaded MSIE 4.01.
>
> At the end of this message is a perl script that logs each
> use of itself. The log has the time (in unix ctime format), what the program
> name is (I had several scripts using the same log file), the client name and IP address (changed to protect the guilty), the actual preferences line that is
> sent to the client and what the client's browser reports itself as.
>
> At Access One we have geographically dispersed proxies, so when a
> customer dials into one of our POPs the full version of the perl script
> uses the clients IP address to construct the best order for using the proxies.
> It was while testing this I noticed the anomaly with MSIE. This is also
> why the log reports what it does.
>
> Of interest MSIE 3.01 reports itself when fetching the autoconfig file
> as "Auto-Proxy Downloader".
>
> Below will give an idea of what the log looks like;
>
> MSIE 4.01 on Win95 - LAN connection. Loads it once.
>
> 886733039 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "dy-pc1.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.yyy.yyy) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
>
> MSIE 4.01 on Win95 - Dialup. Loads it multiple times/per page.
> (It appears to be once/frame).
>
> 886733219 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-3.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
> 886733221 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-3.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
> 886733223 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-3.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
> 886733225 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-3.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
> 886733229 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-3.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
> 886733234 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-3.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.01; Win32)" accept "*/*"
>
> MSIE 4.01 on Win.311 - Dialup Loads it once
>
> 886733901 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-2.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.zzz.zzz) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows 3.1)" accept "*/*, q=0.300, application/x-x509-ca-cert, multipart/mixed, multipart/x-mixed-replace, text/plain, text/html"
>
> MSIE 4.01 on Win.311 - Lan Loads it once
>
> 886734113 [/cgi-bin/setproxy3.pjs] host "d48-2.a.thing" (xxx.xxx.zzz.zzz) method "" preferences "PROXY a.proxy.thing:80; PROXY b.proxy.thing:80; DIRECT" agent "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows 3.1)" accept "*/*, q=0.300, application/x-x509-ca-cert, multipart/mixed, multipart/x-mixed-replace, text/plain, text/html"
>
> Tried searching through the registry to see if there was something that controlled the behaviour. Found the following;
>
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet
>
> settings
>
> AutoConfigReloadDelayMins
>
> It would also appear in HKEY_USERS.
>
> This controls how often to reload the autoconfig script. We tried
> setting this to 1 minute to see what would happen. When we did so MSIE 4.01
> fetched the autoconfig script every minute whether you used it or not.
> Putting 1800 in the setting had no effect on the continual refetchs when set
> for dialup connection. This is a useful setting as MSIE when it decides a
> proxy is not available never goes back and retries to see if the proxy is back
> up. So for setting AutoConfigReloadDelayMins to something like 120 (2 hours)
> will allow the script to be refetched and the various proxies specified to be
> retried.
>
> You will need the CGI.pm module so use this code. CSPAN will have it.
> or try http://www-genome.wi.mit.edu/ftp/pub/software/WWW/cgi_docs.html.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> #!/usr/local/bin/perl5
> #
> # script to dynamically set proxy via netscape's/msie automatic proxy
> # configuration
> #
> # also serves a secondary use of telling us what
> # browsers users are using, and other useless facts
> #
>
> # DEFINES
> $logfile = "/localdata/proxyconf.log";
>
> #
> # preferences
> #
> $near = "a.proxy.thing:80";
> $far = "b.proxy.thing:80";
>
> $preferences = "PROXY $near; PROXY $far; DIRECT";
>
> use CGI;
> $query = new CGI;
>
> $remote_addr = $query->remote_addr();
> $remote_host = $query->remote_host();
> $remote_ident = $query->remote_ident();
> $user_agent = $query->user_agent();
> $referer = $query->referer();
>
> $msieflag = 0;
> $_ = $user_agent;
> if (/^(.*)MSIE(.*)$/ || /^Auto-Proxy Downloader/) {
> $msieflag = 1;
> }
>
> #
> # output to browser
> #
> if ($msieflag) {
> # MSIE 3.02 & better.
> print "Content-type: application/x-javascript-config\n\n";
> } else {
> # Netscape (all versions)
> print "Content-type: application/x-ns-proxy-autoconfig\n\n";
> }
> print "function FindProxyForURL(url, host)\n";
> print "{\n";
> print " return \"$preferences\";\n";
> print "}\n";
>
> #
> # store details of what we did ..
> #
> if (open(F,">>$logfile") != 0) {
> printf F "%lu [%s] host \"%s\" (%s) method \"%s\" preferences \"%s\" agent \"%s\" accept \"%s\"\n",
> time,
> $0,
> $remote_host,
> $remote_addr,
> $method,
> $preferences,
> $user_agent,
> $ENV{"HTTP_ACCEPT"};
>
> close(F);
> }
>
> exit 0;
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If you get different result than I do please email me directly.
> If you know how to make MSIE work properly then DEFINITELY email with the
> details please.
>
> PS: Does anyone had the email address for submitting bug reports to Microsoft,
> I tried searching the www.microsoft.com site for an email address but
> their search engine kept erroring on me.

Us too. Unless you're looking for hype, their search engine just spits errors or lists broken URLs when you look for technical info &c.

D

--
Did you read the documentation AND the FAQ?
If not, I'll probably still answer your question, but my patience will
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