Cannot access some URLs

[Howard]

Am using WIN98 (SE) on an IBM PC. Without any apparent
cause or symptom, I am unable to access certain websites.
When the URL is entered on the browser, there is a second
or two of driving of data, then it stops; after a minute
or two, the standard message "Could not access, etc."
comes up, advising to "refresh," etc. I am able to access
most all other URLs, and am able to access the
unaccessible ones on another computer, so the problem lies
in either my computer or the browser, or . . . ?? MSN
interative support went through a routine (see at end of
this e-mail) that, among other things, "purged" all
cookies and related possible corruptions, but had no
effect. I uninstalled my IE6 and reinstalled a freshly
downloaded version. No effect. Any solution to this
(without erasing my hard C: drive and reinstalling
WIN98se)? The following is the exact procedure I followed
from MSN (e-mail transcript sent to me): MANY THANKS,
HOWARD

Penny It happens sometimes when the particular file which
is used to communicate with that particular server and
your computer is corrupted. You need to re-register it. I
will provide you the steps.
Penny Click on Start and select Run.
Penny Type regsvr32 softpub.dll and click on ok.
Penny Please provide space regsvr32 and softpub.dll
Howard Janssen Do you want me to try this now, while
online? And what do you mean "provide space regsvr32 and
softpub.dll"?
Penny Yes Howard, I suggest you to perform the step while
you are online.
Penny Please provide a single space between regsvr32 and
softpub.dll
Howard Janssen OK. Stand by.
Penny Sure, take your time.,
Howard Janssen I followed your instructions, and received
the message "dllRegisterServer in softpub.ll succeeded."
Penny Very good.
Penny Now you need to optimize your browser settings. I
will provide you the steps.
Penny 1. Click Start, click Settings, and then click
Control Panel. 2. Click Internet Options.
Penny 3. On the General tab, click Delete Cookies in the
Temporary Internet Files section. 4. When you are prompted
to confirm, click OK. 5. Click Clear History. 6. When you
are prompted to confirm, click OK.
Howard Janssen OK
Penny 7. Click Delete Files. 8. Select the Delete all
offline content check box, and then click OK. 9. Click
Settings.
Penny 10. Adjust the The amount of disk space to use
setting to 10 MB. 11. Click View Files. 12. When the View
Files window appears, press CTRL+A to select all the
files, and then press DELETE. 13. When you are prompted to
confirm, click Yes, and then close the window.
Penny 14. Click OK to close the Settings dialog box. 15.
Click the Security tab. 16. Click the Internet icon.
Penny 17. Click the Default Level button if it is
available, and then click Apply. Repeat this for the
Restricted, Trusted, and Local Intranet zones. 18. Click
the Privacy tab. 19. Click the Edit button. If the sites
appear under Managed Web sites, click Remove All in the
Per Site Privacy Actions window, and then click OK.
Penny 20. Click the Default button if it is available, and
then click Apply. 21. Click the Connections tab. 22. For
each item that is listed under Dial-up and Virtual Private
Network settings, follow these steps: a. Select the item
(the connectoid), and then click Settings. b. Clear all
the check boxes, and then click OK.
Penny 23. Click LAN Settings. 24. Clear all the check
boxes, and then click OK. 25. Click the Advanced tab. 26.
Click Restore Default, and then click OK.
Penny I have finished sending you the troubleshooting
steps.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Am using WIN98 (SE) on an IBM PC. Without any apparent
cause or symptom, I am unable to access certain websites.

Do you have another browser? Can it access the problem sites?
Your help technician appears to have been assuming that you were
having problems accessing secure sites. Is it only secure sites
you are having trouble with?

A telnet client is a useful tool for simulating and testing web browser
connections. Unfortunately your OS doesn't have one which is as
easy to use as NT's (unless you have added a third-party telnet client.)
However, you can use your HyperTerminal utility with its Winsock connection
(instead of a Comm port). Depending on how your File Types are
set up testing a connection may be as easy as using a telnet://
protocol prefix in place of your normal URL prefix and appending
a specific port number 80) to the domain name. You could use
that for example, if you don't have another browser to test a connection with.
If the telnet client was unable to find an open port you would have
a clearer explanation for your symptom, etc.

When the URL is entered on the browser, there is a second
or two of driving of data, then it stops; after a minute
or two, the standard message "Could not access, etc."
comes up, advising to "refresh," etc.

It might be useful to know how much data if any is actually being seen
by your OS. You could do that using netstat in an command window
with the following commands. Notice that <do your test> is just a
signal in the procedure for you to use your browser and try connecting
to a problem site.

netstat -s >before.txt
<do your test>
netstat -s >after.txt
fc before.txt after.txt >diff.txt
notepad diff.txt

Since netstat reports cumulative statistics in order to get detailed
quantitative values for your test you would have to subtract the
before value from its corresponding after value.

I suggest you try the procedure with another (simple) site
where you are not having difficulty connecting in order to see what
normal statistics look like in order to assess what your problem
statistics may mean. For complicated sites you could reduce
the volume of data being recorded by the sample by doing things
such as turning on prompts for Privacy and Security settings
and by suppressing image downloading (etc.), then capturing
your "after" statistics before responding to a prompt.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---

I am able to access
most all other URLs, and am able to access the
unaccessible ones on another computer, so the problem lies
in either my computer or the browser, or . . . ?? MSN
interative support went through a routine (see at end of
this e-mail) that, among other things, "purged" all
cookies and related possible corruptions, but had no
effect. I uninstalled my IE6 and reinstalled a freshly
downloaded version. No effect. Any solution to this
(without erasing my hard C: drive and reinstalling
WIN98se)? The following is the exact procedure I followed
from MSN (e-mail transcript sent to me): MANY THANKS,
HOWARD

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