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New "403 Forbidden" webpage now blocking an everyday used website

  • 8 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 672 views
  • Last reply by Jaykay

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My wife and I are both suddenly blocked from opening a fav website: https://www.freedomconsciousness.com/

We now get a 403 Forbidden webpage (generated by Wordfence) instead.

Ditto when using the utube webpage, then in the About tab, trying to reach the website that way.

Trying the Mozilla technique of clicking on the lock icon ... I get both a secure connection message and a not-secure-connected message. Nothing I try after that affects anything. What to do???

Cheers Jaykay

My wife and I are both suddenly blocked from opening a fav website: https://www.freedomconsciousness.com/ We now get a 403 Forbidden webpage (generated by Wordfence) instead. Ditto when using the utube webpage, then in the About tab, trying to reach the website that way. Trying the Mozilla technique of clicking on the lock icon ... I get both a secure connection message and a not-secure-connected message. Nothing I try after that affects anything. What to do??? Cheers Jaykay

Chosen solution

Thank you cor-el.

yes we do use NordVPN and over 80% of the time request a miami server. This might be year 2 or 3 using NordVPN. If NordVPN drops out, we have set up to auto shut down Firefox (we love firefox but nosey types will drop out a vpn to confirm location).

We take advantage of firefox feature: History Firefox will "Never remember history"

Firefox will use the same settings as private browsing, and will not remember any history as you browse the Web.

So I believe we do diligently clear cookies and caches every time we close firefox.

We also take advantage of firefox extensions (brilliant stuff by brilliant types): AdBlockPlus AdBlock Audio Equalizer ColorZilla DuckDuckGo Essentials Fireshot Pro

I believe they are current, but will check. Thanks cor-el !

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

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Also, all other webpages open normally. We have been using Elke Neher's canadian webiste as our new Firefox HomePage for about 1 week.

Also, tried to upload a SureShot screen capture of the 403 webpage, but the Add Images option below just kept swirling for the 734kb ".png" image. Will try again now ... it worked :D Thank you, Jaykay

Modified by Jaykay

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Please Copy that full message and post it here.

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Are you possibly using a VPN or proxy ?

You can check the connection settings.

  • Options/Preferences -> General -> Network: Connection -> Settings

If you do not need to use a proxy to connect to internet then try to select "No Proxy" if "Use the system proxy settings" or one of the others do not work properly.

See "Firefox connection settings":


You can remove all data stored in Firefox for a specific domain via "Forget About This Site" in the right-click context menu of an history entry ("History -> Show All History" or "View -> Sidebar -> History").

Using "Forget About This Site" will remove all data stored in Firefox for this domain like history and cookies and passwords and exceptions and cache, so be cautious. If you have a password or other data for that domain that you do not want to lose then make sure to backup this data or make a note.

You can't recover from this 'forget' unless you have a backup of involved files.

If you revisit a 'forgotten' website then data for that website will be saved once again.

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BEGIN REPORT-----

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END REPORT-----
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I don't know how to decode that. (I am not a Wordfence user myself.)

In addition to the points mentioned by cor-el, I have various boring things to try ("the usual"):

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally:

Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Tracking Protection feature, and extensions that counter ads and tracking, may break websites that embed third party content (meaning, from a secondary server).

(A) The shield icon toward the left end of the address bar usually turns a bit purplish when content is blocked. Click the icon to learn more or make an exception. See: Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox for desktop.

(B) Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix usually provide a toolbar button to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you sometimes need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, click the lock icon at the left end of the address bar. After a moment, a "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button should appear at the bottom. Go ahead and click that.

In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart. A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.) A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the option/alt key when starting Firefox. (On Windows, hold down the Shift key instead of the option/alt key.) A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

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Good morning and thank you's to FredMcD, cor-el and jscher2000.

It is now 48 hours later and I have this to report: My preferred Home Page web address returned to normal working status the last 2 mornings (and all day). This is before I had the opportunity to apply the recommendations above. I thank you for your time & efforts ... they have always worked in the past.

Not sure why the problem 2 days ago. I sometimes now think AI works against normal functioning, for whatever reason. Or other agency types. Happy it now works normally.

Today's issue is suddenly flickr log-in does not work (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaykay144/). Zero issues with it for the last 6+ months. Perhaps in 24 hours it will return to normal.

Previously, we had issues connecting to speak project dot net and on utube, and the fledgling site unitednetwork.solutions. They now operate normally.

Thanks for the brilliance of the Firefox teams each day, each year! Cheers

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Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies for websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Options/Preferences).

"Remove the Cookies" for websites that cause problems:

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"

"Clear the Cache":

  • Options/Preferences -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Clear Data -> Cached Web Content: Clear

If you use extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) that can block content (Adblock Plus, NoScript, Disconnect, Ghostery, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin) always make sure such extensions do not block content.

See also:

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Chosen Solution

Thank you cor-el.

yes we do use NordVPN and over 80% of the time request a miami server. This might be year 2 or 3 using NordVPN. If NordVPN drops out, we have set up to auto shut down Firefox (we love firefox but nosey types will drop out a vpn to confirm location).

We take advantage of firefox feature: History Firefox will "Never remember history"

Firefox will use the same settings as private browsing, and will not remember any history as you browse the Web.

So I believe we do diligently clear cookies and caches every time we close firefox.

We also take advantage of firefox extensions (brilliant stuff by brilliant types): AdBlockPlus AdBlock Audio Equalizer ColorZilla DuckDuckGo Essentials Fireshot Pro

I believe they are current, but will check. Thanks cor-el !