Forum Moderators: DixonJones
I'm not sure if this is the right forum to ask this question, so if it is not, please direct me to the one where I should ask it.
I basically have this very weird problem: I cannot browse a specific website at all, even after deleting all the cookies and even the cache (not that I think cache should have anything to do with this). I not only changed the network from which I try to visit that site, but I changed countries, believe it or not! I basically am abroad with my laptop, that is. I still cannot browse that site.
It basically says: looking, connecting, then finally waiting for www....and it keeps waiting forever. People using laptops in the same networks are able to browse that website at the same time I can't.
What can be the reason for this? What kind of software or registry change or whatever can block a certain computer from visiting a website?
Thanks for anyone taking the time to share information and tips.
However, an entry in the hosts file can also be used to divert requests for a given domain to an IP address not associated with that domain, and so can be used to spoof a Web site.
Use a text editor such as Notepad to delete any strange-looking entries with domain names that you did not add. Alternatvely, you may be able to simply replace the hosts file with a copy of the default sample file, hosts.sam, if it is present on your machine.
After doing this, download and run "AdAware" and "Spybot Search and Destroy." A Web search will easily find them. Both are free adware/spyware removers with excellent reputations, and no Web-connected PC is safe without them unless behind an enterprise-grade hardware firewall. A typical user who browses the Web with Internet Explorer's default "Internet Zone" security settings will often find several hundred security problems when running these programs for the first time. There is a lot of cross-coverage between the programs, but one will often find something the other has missed. Consider supporting the author of Spybot, since it is donation-ware. (I have no afilliation with either product, but valuable work deserves to be supported.)
I suspect that you'll either find a problem in your hosts file, or that one of these two programs will find the cause.
Jim
I'm a Firefox spreader. And I've been using Spybot-S&D for quite a while now. And ever since I started using it, I've stopped using Ad-Aware, as its professional versions were commercial. But because of your recommendation to install both, I downloaded the personal version of Ad-Aware and was surprised to see that it actually found a few things to delete after I had already searched with an updated Spybot!
I also overwrote the hosts file with another hosts.bak that seemed like the closest file to hosts.sam, which you had mentioned.
Then, I restarted my computer. And, unfortunately, I still cannot load that website. And just for the record, I did not find the address of this specific website in the list that was in the hosts file. There was indeed a list of websites with weird spammy names in the hosts file, though.
This problem is just far beyond bizarre and weird for me. And what really annoys me is that I cannot find a logical or scientific answer to it, not even coming close to one.
Another similar problem is that 2 of the 3 computers of my home LAN cannot load or browse certain websites, but will breeze through other websites. One computer breezes through all websites, though. And it's enough to say that 2 of the problematic websites in the 2 computers are Microsoft and UK's ebay! I don't mean to divert from the main problem, though, just sharing more weird incidents. And what annoys me a bit is that I'm not a newbie at all, yet stand completely clueless in front of problems like this.
