Negative DNS response launches dial-up dialogue

[A. G. Kozak]

I just upgrade from a Windows Me machine to a Windows XP machine, and
I'm experiencing an odd problem.

I use a broadband connection, but I also have a dial-up service for
emergencies. Now that I'm using Windows XP, I suddenly find that, when
I'm browsing and I click on a dead link (a link that points to a site
that no longer exists), the dial-up networking box pops up and offers
to dial in for me. In Internet Explorer, this is sometimes followed by
the browser's trying to convince me that I'm not connected (asking me
if I should like to work offline). As long as I dismiss these things,
everything's back to normal -- until the next time that someone's
outdated web page steers me towards a bad URL.

I noticed this morning that the dial-up box was launched when I clicked
on a bad link in the K-Meleon browser (which did not, however, try to
convince me further that I was not connected), so it doesn't seem to be
a problem with MSIE specifically.

***NOW THE INTERESTING THING is that, if I remove my dial-up settings
entirely from Network Connections, the problem goes away. Internet
Explorer displays its usual "The page cannot be displayed" error
message page, while the K-Meleon browser displays its usual box telling
me that the URL does not exist. As long as there is no dial-up service
for the system to appeal to, I no longer have any unusual "your
computer isn't connected" insinuations.***

So there's a sort of fix in just deleting the dial-up connection -- but
I really don't see why I shouldn't be able to have a dial-up backup
connection without having browsers trying to use it every time the DNS
server turns them down.

Does anyone have any idea how I could achieve this (to my mind, at
least) very modest goal? I thank you in advance.


A. G. Kozak

 

[Galen]

In A. G. Kozak <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I just upgrade from a Windows Me machine to a Windows XP machine, and
I'm experiencing an odd problem.

I use a broadband connection, but I also have a dial-up service for
emergencies. Now that I'm using Windows XP, I suddenly find that,
when I'm browsing and I click on a dead link (a link that points to a
site that no longer exists), the dial-up networking box pops up and
offers to dial in for me. In Internet Explorer, this is sometimes
followed by the browser's trying to convince me that I'm not
connected (asking me if I should like to work offline). As long as I
dismiss these things, everything's back to normal -- until the next
time that someone's outdated web page steers me towards a bad URL.

I noticed this morning that the dial-up box was launched when I
clicked on a bad link in the K-Meleon browser (which did not,
however, try to convince me further that I was not connected), so it
doesn't seem to be a problem with MSIE specifically.

***NOW THE INTERESTING THING is that, if I remove my dial-up settings
entirely from Network Connections, the problem goes away. Internet
Explorer displays its usual "The page cannot be displayed" error
message page, while the K-Meleon browser displays its usual box
telling me that the URL does not exist. As long as there is no
dial-up service for the system to appeal to, I no longer have any
unusual "your computer isn't connected" insinuations.***

So there's a sort of fix in just deleting the dial-up connection --
but I really don't see why I shouldn't be able to have a dial-up
backup connection without having browsers trying to use it every time
the DNS server turns them down.

Does anyone have any idea how I could achieve this (to my mind, at
least) very modest goal? I thank you in advance.


A. G. Kozak

Under your properties for IE > tools > options > connection > set it to
never dial a connection. When you want to dial a connection you can just
click a shortcut to dial or you can change it back easily enough.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[A. G. Kozak]

Yes, that's an interesting one: I would, in fact, make that setting,
and every time the problem occurred I would check that setting and it
would have changed to "Dial whenever a network connection is not
present." I could set it back never to dial a connection, but it would
always pop back to the second option when I tried to go to a
non-existent URL.

This all seems to be a problem with my system doing the wrong thing
when informed by the DNS that it isn't having any luck. The browser
should display an error page, but instead it thinks that the negative
response from the DNS means that it needs to connect to something, and
it disobeys my setting asking that no automatic dial-ups be performed.

The problem is completely reproduceable. It only happens in the
context of links to non-existent sites. Clicking on such a link will
reliably cause the problem. The funny thing is that, if there is no
dial-up connection that the system knows of, everything behaves as it
should. But I should, of course, like to be able to use my computer
without having to cripple it.

 

[Galen]

In A. G. Kozak <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Yes, that's an interesting one: I would, in fact, make that setting,
and every time the problem occurred I would check that setting and it
would have changed to "Dial whenever a network connection is not
present." I could set it back never to dial a connection, but it
would always pop back to the second option when I tried to go to a
non-existent URL.

This all seems to be a problem with my system doing the wrong thing
when informed by the DNS that it isn't having any luck. The browser
should display an error page, but instead it thinks that the negative
response from the DNS means that it needs to connect to something, and
it disobeys my setting asking that no automatic dial-ups be performed.

The problem is completely reproduceable. It only happens in the
context of links to non-existent sites. Clicking on such a link will
reliably cause the problem. The funny thing is that, if there is no
dial-up connection that the system knows of, everything behaves as it
should. But I should, of course, like to be able to use my computer
without having to cripple it.

The only way I know to deal with it is to have it set like that. You're not
the first to complain about it, and likely not the last, but that's the only
way I've found. I've never seen it change once it was set to never dial a
connection and then when you use dialup either connecting manually or
telling it to dial you connection. I tend to place a shortcut on the desktop
to dial my ISP and when I want to dial I simply click that shortcut.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind,
which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply
there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations." -
Sherlock Holmes

 

[Joe Crown]

Here is my best guess as I know Windows is not supposed to ever change
that setting unless you change it.

This sounds like spyware/malware/adware running on your computer &
possibly a virus or two.

First I'd download Ad-Aware & Spybot - Search & Destroy. The default
install should take care of most problems. Also make sure
you Download all the updates for both programs & immunize the computer
with Spybot - Search & Destroy. Also on the immunize screen in Spybot -
Search & Destroy make sure you check the box that says "Enable permanent
blocking of bad addresses in Internet Explorer" as this will cut down on
the spyware from getting into the computer. Also if any components will
not remove in normal mode I strongly suggest restarting the computer
into safe mode to remove the other components that won't remove in
normal mode.

http://www.download.com/3405-8022-5153545.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5
(This is for Ad-Aware)

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html (This is for
Spybot - Search & Destroy)

For information on starting is safe mode you can check out the following
Microsoft KB articles.

180902 How to Start a Windows 98-Based Computer in Safe Mode

202485 Description of Safe Boot Mode in Windows 2000

315222 A Description of the Safe Mode Boot Options in Windows XP

If you have problems getting either of these programs installed I'd
recommend using clean boot to disable the spyware & possibly viruses
that are preventing it from installing. This also applies the the virus
scanning online. Just be careful about disabling any of the Microsoft
services as they are needed.

181966 System Configuration Utility Advanced Troubleshooting Settings

192926 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98

267288 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Millennium Edition

272960 Error Messages Occur When Using Msconfig.exe

281965 How to Troubleshoot Using the Msconfig Utility with Windows 98

281995 How to Troubleshoot Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows ME

310353 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP

310560 How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP

314448 Msconfig.exe Stops Responding if User Is Not an Administrator

316434 HOW TO: Perform Advanced Clean-Boot Troubleshooting in Windows XP

One more thing if you do use msconfig you may want to check out the
following site as they list a ton of stuff that shows up on the startup
tab of msconfig.

http://www.sysinfo.org/startupinfo.html

To check for a virus I recommend using an online virus scanner as the
installed anti virus software is the first target of most viruses. Here
is a list of 4 different scanners.

Trend Micro's free online anti-virus scanner (I currently can only get
this to work in Firefox)
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

Panda Software's free online anti-virus scanner
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/

BitDefender Free Online Virus Scan
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

Symantec's free online anti-virus scanner
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym

Yes, that's an interesting one: I would, in fact, make that setting,
and every time the problem occurred I would check that setting and it
would have changed to "Dial whenever a network connection is not
present." I could set it back never to dial a connection, but it would
always pop back to the second option when I tried to go to a
non-existent URL.

This all seems to be a problem with my system doing the wrong thing
when informed by the DNS that it isn't having any luck. The browser
should display an error page, but instead it thinks that the negative
response from the DNS means that it needs to connect to something, and
it disobeys my setting asking that no automatic dial-ups be performed.

The problem is completely reproduceable. It only happens in the
context of links to non-existent sites. Clicking on such a link will
reliably cause the problem. The funny thing is that, if there is no
dial-up connection that the system knows of, everything behaves as it
should. But I should, of course, like to be able to use my computer
without having to cripple it.

--

Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony & Symantec for helping them

Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.

If I sound hostile or arrogant you need to read the following before
posting a question "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" at
(The site I've linked
to just has this article I think people should read before posting a
technical question.)

 

[A. G. Kozak]

Thanks so much, but I'd actually already tried those measures (plus I
use SpywareBlaster, which is *supposed* to help out with the malware,
etc.). No luck, but --

I SEEM TO HAVE FIXED THE PROBLEM (I'm crossing my fingers). I'm doing
all of the old things that would make the computer misbehave, and
everything seems to be back to normal now.

Here's what I did:

I looked at the Advanced settings for the Windows Firewall. I picked
out the settings for the Local Area Connection and went to the ICMP
tab. I enabled:

Allow outgoing destination unreachable
Allow outgoing source quench
Allow outgoing parameter problem
Allow outgoing time exceeded
Allow redirect.

My problem went away.

Then I went back to those settings and disabled them one by one to see
which had fixed the problem. Ultimately I disabled ALL OF THEM. The
problem remained fixed. I rebooted the machine. The problem still has
not returned.

So the final question is, what did enabling and disabling those ICMP
settings do to reset my system? I'm mostly happy to see the problem
fixed, but I am curious to see if any of you might have an idea as to
why what I did worked.

Thanks so much for devoting time to this matter.


A. G. Kozak

 

[Joe Crown]

Well that is the first time I've ever heard of the Windows firewall
causing problems. I guess it had some stupid registry setting messed
up, & playing with it fixed the registry key. That's my guess at least.

Thanks so much, but I'd actually already tried those measures (plus I
use SpywareBlaster, which is *supposed* to help out with the malware,
etc.). No luck, but --

I SEEM TO HAVE FIXED THE PROBLEM (I'm crossing my fingers). I'm doing
all of the old things that would make the computer misbehave, and
everything seems to be back to normal now.

Here's what I did:

I looked at the Advanced settings for the Windows Firewall. I picked
out the settings for the Local Area Connection and went to the ICMP
tab. I enabled:

Allow outgoing destination unreachable
Allow outgoing source quench
Allow outgoing parameter problem
Allow outgoing time exceeded
Allow redirect.

My problem went away.

Then I went back to those settings and disabled them one by one to see
which had fixed the problem. Ultimately I disabled ALL OF THEM. The
problem remained fixed. I rebooted the machine. The problem still has
not returned.

So the final question is, what did enabling and disabling those ICMP
settings do to reset my system? I'm mostly happy to see the problem
fixed, but I am curious to see if any of you might have an idea as to
why what I did worked.

Thanks so much for devoting time to this matter.


A. G. Kozak

--

Don't pay malware vendors - boycott Sony & Symantec for helping them

Please do not contact me directly or ask me to contact you directly for
assistance.

If your question is worth asking, it's worth posting.

If it’s not worth posting you should have done a search on
http://www.google.com/ http://www.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg&q= or
http://news.google.com/froogle?hl=en&tab=nf&ned=us&q= before wasting our
time.

If I sound hostile or arrogant you need to read the following before
posting a question "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" at
(The site I've linked
to just has this article I think people should read before posting a
technical question.)