A few NorthCountryNow.com viewers were still viewing only the two words “It Works!” on a white screen instead of local news this morning, and experts are advising them to refresh their browser and clear their browsing history.

“The reason for the ‘It Works’ message is that when Apache servers reboot, this message shows to indicate the server rebooted successfully,” explained Mark Cornett, vice president of Slic Network Solutions, which hosts NorthCountryNow.com.

Slic took NorthCountryNow.com offline Monday morning to resolve DNS issues, and the server automatically posted the “It Works!” message after it was rebooted. The message remained online for more than three hours.

That caused many viewers to fear that their computer or the NorthCountryNow.com website had been hacked or infected with a virus when they saw the message. More than 100 viewers called or emailed North Country This Week, the parent company of NorthCountryNow.com, or posted messages on the NorthCountryNow.com FaceBook page.

On some browsers, the “It Works!” message still appeared this morning as traffic on NorthCountryNow.com ran about 10 percent below normal levels.

Cornett said viewers who see “It Works!” should refresh their browser.

“If by chance that doesn't correct the situation, they should then clear their browsing history,” he said.

If viewers need assistance with how to clear their browsing history or cache, Cornett recommends visiting http://www.refreshyourcache.com/en/home/

“Normally, the web site to which the user is trying to visit properly resolves and the Apache default message is never viewed” after Apache servers reboot, he said, in explaining why the “It Works!” message occurred.

“The reason your site did not resolve is that two instances of Apache restarted and were competing for the same port (80). When this occurs the default message is what displays.”