The gating area is a program that runs within a webpage called a Java applet. For this to work, you must have Java installed on your personal computer. (How do I check if I have Java installed on my browser?) In addition to Java, cookies must be enabled for the applet to work correctly.

"When in doubt, reboot."

If the gating area doesn't load, copy the URL of the current webpage (so that you can easily return to the same page), and then quit the browser entirely (all windows and all tabs of that browser). Restart the browser and re-open the page. If this doesn't work, you may need to check the steps below.

If the gating applet still is not working correctly, try clearing the cache on your web browser and temporary jar files. Clearing the cache means that you will delete any old copies of the gating applet stored on your computer.

To clear the cache:

Go to Tools -> Clear Recent History. When the window pops up, click on the "Details" arrow. Make sure "Cache" is checked. For the time range to clear, select "Everything".

To clear the temporary jar files:
On the Mac: Go to Applications -> Utilities and click on Java Preferences. Click on the network tab and then on the delete files button. The prompt will ask you which temporary files to delete. Check "Applications and Applets" and click ok.

On Windows XP: Start -> Control Panel -> (Classic View) Java. Under General, in "Temporary Internet Files", click "Settings". Click "Delete Files". Check "Applications and Applets" and click OK. Close the Java Control Panel window.

On Windows 7: Start -> Control Panel -> Programs -> Java (if you don't see Java here, you probably don't have Java installed. See System Requirements for details). Under General, in "Temporary Internet Files", click "Settings". Click "Delete Files". Check "Applications and Applets" and click OK. Close the Java Control Panel window.

If it is your first time using Cytobank on a computer, you may need to enable cookies.

To enable cookies:

On the Mac: Launch Firefox. Click on Firefox -> Preferences. Click on the Privacy Tab. Set the option for Firefox to use custom settings for history. Make sure Accept cookies from sites and Accept third party cookies is checked.

On Windows XP: Launch Firefox. Click on Tools -> Options. Click on the Privacy Tab. Set the option for Firefox to use custom settings for history. Make sure Accept cookies from sites and Accept third party cookies is checked.