Unwanted 404 errors in log file

[Peter Berglund]

I am trying to reduce the number of 404-errors on my
site and I have found a large number of 404-errors in my
log file, which I cannot resolve.

The files requested are not referenced in my site and thus
I cannot correct the 'broken links'. The pages looked for
are e.g.:
http://www.domain.com/Page%20Title_files/top.htm
http://www.domain.com/Page%20Title_files/main.htm

The page (with 2 frames) to be saved has URL
http://www.domain.com/index.asp

After a short investigation I have found that the 'Save
As' command in Internet Explorer caused these errors by
requesting pages from the server using a name relating to
the lokal folder where the files were to be saved in.

Also, this kind of requests seem to occur only if the page
to be saved contains frames.

Has anyone seen this behaviour and do you have any
suggestions how to handle to the problem?

Best regards
Peter

[David Wang [MS]]

> I am trying to reduce the number of 404-errors on my
> site and I have found a large number of 404-errors in my
> log file, which I cannot resolve.

I think you should just deal with it. At best, this is a log filtering
problem. You cannot control whether users of a website ever types in the
right URL, period. It also doesn't matter that IE compounds that problem by
doing some pre-emptive requests; those are just more "mistakes" leading to
404.

Consider this: If you are concerned about 404, I can hit your website with
random requests specifying URLs and just raise the number of 404 through the
roof. Do you still care about the number of 404 for any use?

--
//David
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//

[Jeff Cochran]

>I am trying to reduce the number of 404-errors on my
>site and I have found a large number of 404-errors in my
>log file, which I cannot resolve.
>
>The files requested are not referenced in my site and thus
>I cannot correct the 'broken links'.

Then you have to drive around to each user's house and punch him in
the nose each time he requests a file that isn't on your system.
Eventually, they'll stop visiting your site, you'll get arrested or
you'll run out of gas money. :)

404 responses are a valid response when a file doesn't exist. If you
can't correct it, then you can't prevent them. Move on to something
productive.

Jeff