Can't view search engine pages only

[sunnyc]

Hi,
I am unable to view the web pages of search engines. For eg, if i try and reach google, yahoo, lycos etc etc i get the std messsage of "page cannot be displayed". All other web pages are ok.

I have IE5 and also a firewall running but it's the same error even with it disabled. Any ideas or should i just reload IE?
cheers

[encyclo]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com] sunnyc.

It may be that you have some sort of spyware inadvertently installed on your computer. Have you tried scanning with an anti-spyware tool such as Spybot Search and Destroy?

Another idea would to be to check your "hosts" file. The location of the file depends on your version of Windows, but do a search for "hosts" (the file has no extension, and open it in Notepad (not Word). You should see an entry for 127.0.0.1 localhost. If there are any other entries, comment them out by placing a hash or pound sign: # at the beginning of the line.

Finally, if you are only running IE5 it may well be that your computer is not patched and up to date. You should connect to Windows Update and download and install IE6 and all the available patches.

[sunnyc]

Thanks encyclo. I will try and find some anti-spyware software and also check that host file, cheers

[sunnyc]

encyclo, i finally got round to downloading Spybot's search and destroy. It found 79! cases of problem software thoughfully installed by 3rd parties. There now gone and i can view search engine sites once again.....thanks alot for your help, Chris