Cannot Load Web Pages

[Simes]

Any ideas anyone?

All of a sudden I cannot load any web pages at all. My internet
connections seem fine: I can download and send email, I can receive and
post to newsgroups, when I check my Norton programs via Live Update it
finds the updates and downloads them, etc etc.

I just cannot seem to load my webpages. If I pick one of my favorites at
random from the bookmarks and then use the 'favorites' menu to try and
'add to favorites',it just says "Cannot Find Server" in the box where
you type/save the name of the webpage you want to save.

I have considered some sort of DNS failure although I havent checked if
this is a fault with my ISP; is there anything else anyone can think of
that I should be doing on my own machine? Any sort of file or .dll
failure for example?

Thanks!

Simes

 

[Jeffrey Struyk - MVP]

Any ideas anyone?

All of a sudden I cannot load any web pages at all. My internet
connections seem fine: I can download and send email, I can receive and
post to newsgroups, when I check my Norton programs via Live Update it
finds the updates and downloads them, etc etc.

I just cannot seem to load my webpages. If I pick one of my favorites at
random from the bookmarks and then use the 'favorites' menu to try and
'add to favorites',it just says "Cannot Find Server" in the box where
you type/save the name of the webpage you want to save.

I have considered some sort of DNS failure although I havent checked if
this is a fault with my ISP; is there anything else anyone can think of
that I should be doing on my own machine? Any sort of file or .dll
failure for example?

Thanks!

Simes

Can you navigate the Web using only IP addresses? Try this link:

http://207.46.144.222/

If that works, but not http://www.microsoft.com then it is probably a
DNS issue.

 

[Simes]

Can you navigate the Web using only IP addresses? Try this link:

http://207.46.144.222/

If that works, but not http://www.microsoft.com then it is probably a
DNS issue.

Thanks Jeffrey, but that doesn't work either!

Regards

simes

 

[Chuck]

Any ideas anyone?

All of a sudden I cannot load any web pages at all. My internet
connections seem fine: I can download and send email, I can receive and
post to newsgroups, when I check my Norton programs via Live Update it
finds the updates and downloads them, etc etc.

I just cannot seem to load my webpages. If I pick one of my favorites at
random from the bookmarks and then use the 'favorites' menu to try and
'add to favorites',it just says "Cannot Find Server" in the box where
you type/save the name of the webpage you want to save.

I have considered some sort of DNS failure although I havent checked if
this is a fault with my ISP; is there anything else anyone can think of
that I should be doing on my own machine? Any sort of file or .dll
failure for example?

Thanks!

Simes

If you have internet connectivity but browser can't load any web pages, I'd
suspect either a browser or dns hijack.

Search your entire system drive, including hidden and system folders, for file
"hosts". There is one legit copy, in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\.

How current is your virus protection? Try these online virus scans first:
<http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp>
<http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp>

Then, download LSP-Fix from <http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm>, and CWShredder
from <http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html>.

Next, run CWShredder. Have it fix all variants.

Now check for, and remove, spyware. Get HijackThis
<http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155> and Spybot S&D
<http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download>.
1) Install and run Spybot. First update it ("Search for updates"), then run a
scan ("Check for problems"). Trust Spybot, and make all recommended deletions.
2) Install and run HijackThis. Do NOT make any changes immediately. Save the
Log.
3) Have your HJT log interpreted by experts at one or more of the following
forums (and post it here):
<http://forums.tomcoyote.org/>
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/>
<http://forums.net-integration.net/>
<http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/>

Run LSP-Fix.

Finally, prevent this from happening again.

Harden your browser. There are various websites which will check for
vulnerabilities, here are three which I use.
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/
http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
https://testzone.secunia.com/browser_checker/

Harden your operating system. Check at least monthly.
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Block possibly dangerous websites with a Hosts file. Three Hosts file sources I
use:
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/get_hosts.html
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
(The third is included, and updated, with Spybot (see above)).

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Simes]

Thanks Chuck...will try these. However my AV protection is up to date, I
run a firewall plus use Spybot AND ad-aware very regularly!

Thanks again

Simon