Carolyn said:
Help, I just got back from a holliday and something wierd
has happened to my computer. I am unable to goto my bank,
hotmail, or it seems like any secure site. I can however
go to yahoo so it is kind of wierd. I also cant go
windows update although I did fully update it about 3
weeks ago so I shouldnr be to behind in that. I have
tried with the firewall both on and off with no luck. I
have also tried Article Q174360 with no luck.
I would love any help..
Thanks Carolyn
It sounds like your hosts file may have been changed, either by a virus
or other malware. Do the normal troubleshooting:
Scan with a current antivirus program (meaning a version not earlier
than 2002 and using updated virus definitions). Then remove spyware
with Spybot Search & Destroy from
www.safer-networking.org and Ad-aware
from
www.lavasoftusa.com. Be sure to update these programs before
running them. These programs are free, so run them both since they
complement each other. It is best to run antivirus and spyware removal
tools in Safe Mode. You may also need to run CWShredder from http:/
www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.html . Please read the instructions
carefully.
If you are unable to get to antivirus sites and/or the spyware removal
tool sites, fix your hosts files first:
1. In XP's Search preferences, set the files and folders handling to
Advanced, and then check the box that will make Search look in hidden
files/folders.
2. Now enter the search term "hosts" without the quotes.
3. You will get several hosts and lmhosts files. Double-click each one
to open it. When you do this, you'll get a Windows dialog box saying
that Windows cannot open this file, do you want to use the web or
select from a list to find the proper program. Choose "select from a
list" and highlight Notepad. Make sure the box to always use this
program to open this type of file is not checked.
4. Now carefully examine the file. Lines that begin with a # are
comments and don't count. Leave them alone. Unless you know you use a
proxy server to get to the Internet or you added entries yourself, the
only uncommented entry that should be there is:
127.0.0.1 localhost
If you see any other entries, delete them and Save the file. Make sure
you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the window if there is a
scrollbar. Do this for each file you found. Now you should be able to
get to antivirus and spyware-fighting websites.
Malke
