Why am I sometimes directed to live pages when I am viewing archives?

If you browse archived documents without using Proxy Mode, be aware that files within a web page may be inadvertently redirected to the live web. When browsing your archives, please be sure to do the following:

• Click a few links on your archived seed sites in Wayback to make sure it was archived and that its display appears to be normal.
• Check streaming media files (video and sound recordings) to make sure they were archived successfully. It is especially important to use Proxy Mode when checking streaming media files.
• If there are specific files (URLs) essential to your collection, make sure they were archived successfully by browsing through your archives or searching directly for the URL in question.

Ultimately, you may use Proxy Mode, which limits your web browsing experience to only those materials served from within your web archives, to evaluate whether the content that you see is live or indeed archived. This may either be done my manually configuring your web browser or by using a browser extension specially made for the purpose by Archive-It. To learn more about this process and perform it yourself, see: How to access your archives in "Proxy Mode."