Some sites seem to be blocked without my knowing

[Herbert Chan]

Hello,

Recently, I notice that some sites seem to be blocked without my intending
to do it.

I use yahoo mail. There are some advertisements on the page. Since
recently, sometimes some of the advertisements cannot be shown, and its
place is taken by the "Cannot show the webpage" error page. Then there is
the website hk.match.com. I noticed that I cannnot reach it. However, if I
try using a webproxy such as http://go.pinkyorange.net/nph-proxy.pl,
hk.match.com can be reached. So the website is not down. It is instead
without my knowing, somewhere in the setting some of the websites, which
includes hk.match.com, are blocked.

How can I go about to check what is wrong with my computer? I am using
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006 or 2007 (the one with yellow icons
and edges).

Hope someone can enlighten me.

Thanks.

Herbert

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

One or more of your security applications (e.g., NIS; Spybot;
SpywareBlaster; Spysweeper; Spyware Doctor, etc.) has customized your HOSTS
file.

 

[Richard in AZ]

This is a common feature of the "Hosts" file.
If a web site is listed in the Hosts file, it will be blocked.
A number of us use the Hosts file technique to block just such ads.
For more information, go here.
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

If you really want that ad to show, open the HOSTS file with NotePad and delete the line that has
that site in it.
You will find the HOSTS file (note it has no 3 letter extension) in
C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc

In addition to adding a modified HOSTS file from the web site above, some antispyware programs
modify the HOSTS file to kill tracking cookie sites.

| Hello,
|
| Recently, I notice that some sites seem to be blocked without my intending
| to do it.
|
| I use yahoo mail. There are some advertisements on the page. Since
| recently, sometimes some of the advertisements cannot be shown, and its
| place is taken by the "Cannot show the webpage" error page. Then there is
| the website hk.match.com. I noticed that I cannnot reach it. However, if I
| try using a webproxy such as http://go.pinkyorange.net/nph-proxy.pl,
| hk.match.com can be reached. So the website is not down. It is instead
| without my knowing, somewhere in the setting some of the websites, which
| includes hk.match.com, are blocked.
|
| How can I go about to check what is wrong with my computer? I am using
| Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006 or 2007 (the one with yellow icons
| and edges).
|
| Hope someone can enlighten me.
|
| Thanks.
|
| Herbert
|
|

 

[Herbert Chan]

I've checked the file HOSTS. There is nothing wrong in the file. It just
has the following lines:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost


Where else can I look? I also notice that some of the ads on quite a number
of websites are replaced by ads from a company called sinotechmedia. It is
very weird. Here is a capture of the website with the weird ads.
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7043/mysteriousadwh2.jpg

Where else can I check? I am quite certain that something must have changed
some settings in my computer.

Hope someone can help me.

Herbert

 

[Plato]

Recently, I notice that some sites seem to be blocked without my intending
to do it.

How can I go about to check what is wrong with my computer? I am using
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006 or 2007 (the one with yellow icons
and edges).

Very first step is to get rid of NIS.