Someone refered by desktop?

file:///C:/WINDOWS/Desktop/...

[too much information]

IP is from Covad, I'm assuming it's a dialup. and the referrer is file:///c:/WINDOWS/Desktop/---.htm

(I'm leaving out the actual file name, because I don't think it's relevant)

This has been showing up in my logs for the past two days. It looks as if someone is refered from an htm file on their desktop. Is this what shows up with a bookmark from any particular browser add on, or should I be really flattered that someone went to the trouble to make a link to my site from their desktop?

[DaveN]

My guess is that if you check you website the link will actually be there.

what has happen is you have edited a page on your site and the link has been update with the local copy on your desktop.
dreamweaver is a pig for that if you quckly edit a copy without setting up the root folder it take the link and changes it to file:///c:/WINDOWS/Desktop/---.htm

DaveN

[john316]

It could also be generated a stats program running locally.

Thae stats program kicks out a list of referers, and user clicks on them.

[menton]

hi too much information

I would say it is a link to a file which is also stored on your desktop. You can see it perfectly as it follows the link to your desktop which you have access to, but nobody else can see it. Check it out on somebody else's computer and if I am right you won't be able to see it.

It has happened to me a few times on testing phases, so I usually veiw a site on another computer to check it out be putting it live.

Regards

menton

[Receptional Andy]

Javascript based stats packages can actually track local referrers, because the javascript that grabs the information is still on the page, and tracked as if you were online. So if someone saves a copy of your web page locally, you can see a referrer like file:///c:/My Documents/your page title.htm or whatever it might be.

[dmorison]

or should I be really flattered that someone went to the trouble to make a link to my site from their desktop?

I wouldn't get too flattered ;) They have probably created a favorites.html or something and keep it on their desktop for easy access.

Other possibility is that they have saved a web page that does refer to you to their desktop, and have occasionally clicked your link from the saved version.

Not sure what the others are getting at above; if you had a reference to the file in question within your site it would never get as far as the referrer field; the visitor would get a "cannot find server" if they clicked that link...

Nothing to worry 'bout I wouldn't think.

[edited by: dmorison at 5:52 pm (utc) on June 24, 2003]

[too much information]

Thanks for the info. I'm thinking someone has created a link page on their desktop. It just started showing up about two days ago, and I wasn't sure if it was a new browser giving weird info from a bookmark file.

I'm using a mac and I code everything by hand so I know it's not produced by my code, and my log files come from my ASP script.

The IP never leaves the home page which is strange. I've become a real freak about strange log entries since I started the PPC stuff. Besides it's kinda fun to see what you can find out about these strange entries. :o)