404 Page Not Found Error Explained

If you're like me, you must have experienced this sometime. You're reading an interesting article online and are so caught up that you now want more information. Then you start looking for additional links to another webpage that provides that, and when you click on them, you see something that looks like this.

"404 Page Not Found."

Does this look familiar to you?

Chances are, you know the message well… but are at a complete loss regarding its meaning. Anyone who uses a computer for any considerable amount of time will inevitably run into this common message at some point, and very few people actually know how to respond to it.

Are you annoyed over this?

If so, you've come to the right place, and I will explain what this means and how you can deal with this issue.

Here is the 404 Page Not Found error, explained:

Variations: This error message is often customized by individual site owners, so it may be that you see any variation of the original syntax, including things like "404 Not Found," "Error 404," and "HTTP 404." These messages mean the same thing, so don't let the variations fool you into thinking you’re dealing with a new problem.

What Does This Mean?

Whatever the wording of your 404 error message, the implication always seems to be that you somehow made a mistake when typing the search terms for the page you were looking for.

While it may be that you mistyped, there are also other common causes of this error message that have nothing to do with you. One of the most likely sources of the 404 error message is the website's organization.

If the website developer or designer changes the site directory or path or even the file's name or location, you will get the 404 error message page if that change has not been mapped in the site's behind-the-scenes organization or structure.

What Can I Do?

There are several different reasons why you may get this message, and there are several different things you can try to remedy the problem. First, it is always a good idea to check your spelling and re-enter the URL you are looking for.

If you get the 404 error at no fault of yours, you can try backing through the path, one directory at a time, until you arrive at your page (or a related page). For example, if you tried somesite.com/category/page/subpage, begin by searching the path without the "subpage," and so on.

If that doesn't work, you can visit the site's main page and search for what you are looking for from there.

You may also try going through and checking the navigation links to see if that works.

I hope this article clarified what "404 error pages" are and what to do the next time you encounter one.

Additionally, if you have any other problems that's not related browsing the internet, such as a slow computer, virus infection, data loss, hard drive failure, computer freezing up, or computer crash, you may visit our computer services page for more information.

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