IE "The page cannot be displayed" on most sites

[TerryE]

I am running Win 2000 and IE ver 6.0.2600. About a week
ago, I began getting the message "The page cannot be
displayed" message on many of my favorite websites, but
not all. When I can get a website up, many of the local
links give the same message and don't connect.

No new software or hardware has been installed.

But, about that time, I had copied/zipped a list of
websites from my Doc&Setting/Favorites file and emailed
them to a friend. The next time I accessed IE, I noted
some *.ini, *.dat, *.lst, etc files in the favorites list
which had not been there before, and didn't belong there.

Then the trouble started, perhaps coincidentally.

I have gone to IE/tools and deleted cookies and temp
files; no change. I tried to download an update to IE via
MS's site. I can get to the link to download, but then get
the same error message. Also, I downloaded IE6.0 off MS's
site to another computer on my local network, copied that
to the desktop on my affected computer and attempted to
download an update that way, but got the error message
that can't connect to the web.

My computer is a Dell, and I've gone to Dell's tech
support [in India!!], but they refer me back to MSoft.

Does anyone have a number to call MSoft for paid tech
support, or any other ideas?

Thanks
terry

 

[Guest]

I've got the same problem here. Luckily i had a copy of
netscape to get here! I think that it has something to do
with my network connection settings, however, i've
reinstalled my ISP, defaulted my IE settings, cleared my
cookies and temp files and i still get "Page Cannot Be
Displayed" I can also still get to web pages via Windows
explorer. I'm told this is because Windows Explorer looks
for any open connection (cd, 56k, etc) while IE uses one
specific network connection (which should be my dialup
service)...i'm totally out of ideas, if anyone has
something to say to this, please do =\

 

[H Leboeuf]

There's a good possibility that this is being caused by a third-party
program (adware, spyware, parasite).
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both.
If all fails get Hijack This. Link on the same page.

 

[H Leboeuf]

There's a good possibility that this is being caused by a third-party
program (adware, spyware, parasite).
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both.
If all fails get Hijack This. Link on the same page.

 

[Terry]

I was the one with the original problem.

It turns out my Internet Protocol was set to obtain DNS
server address from a pre-entered address [which worked
for a long time, but must have changed], rather than
automatically. Once I clicked to 'Obtain DNS Server
Address Automatically', all worked again.

Here's the process I used:
-on Desktop, rt clk "My Network Places" -> Properties
-> Local Area Connection -> Properties
-> Internet Protocol -> Properties
-> select 'DNS Server Address Automatically'
-close

Try that.