unable to access websites

[jocypa]

can somebody please help me... i am unable to access amazon.com ; msn.com; google.com. i have tried using both Internet explorer & netscape but no lick. help!

[jdMorgan]

jocypa,

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

Sounds like your ISP may have DNS problems, but it's also possible that you've picked up a virus or browser hijacker. You didn't provide much information about error messages or what kind of system you're on, but maybe this will help:

Try these:

Examine your Windows hosts file. The filename is just "hosts" and the location varies, but it's usually in or under the "Windows" folder. Use Start->Search for (or Find) files and folders if you need to. Open that file with notepad, and delete any lines you see with those domain names in them. Then save the file.

If you find nothing there, then download and run the two free programs AdAware from lavasoftusa.com and Spybot Search & Destroy from safer-networking.org.

If those two don't find anything, you can also try Hijack This, but be careful, because this one is sort of an "Experts" program and you can damage your Windows installation with it if you're not careful.

Finally, if you are going to use IE, go into Internet Options and set the security setting for the "Internet Zone" to "High." This will probably cause you to get a lot of "permission" prompts from sites you visit; Just add them to the "Trusted Sites" list to allow IE to access them with lower security settings and bypass the prompts.

Jim

[neo_brown]

You could also try accessing the sites via their IP address. If you can access them this way it would indicate a problem with your providers DNS.
I would post one of the addresses but im not too sure if thats allowed.

[goodroi]

jdMorgan - Thanks, I am bookmarking your post for in case I have future problems.

I also like doxdesk, it is a free online tool that provides very detailed information on how to manually remove the spyware.

[jocypa]

everytime i tried to access those sites, it would direct me to "search me up.net" websites. i think this started months ago when i download spybot search & destroy & after that i installed norton internet security... since that time i am unable to access the sites. i already uninstalled the spybot. somebody told me that my computer is being "hijacked" . ive asked a lot of people on what to do but nobody can give me answers. help! please!

[netscan]

First, empty your browser cache via the internet options in the control panel

Second, delete everything in your temp folder, it may be hidden so you will need to un-hide them via the foler options. In XP it is in Documents and settings/your_user_name/local settings/temp

Third, update and run spybot and adaware.

Good luck, it took me 3 hours to clean a friends machine after an "infection" like that, and I call it an infection because it is more like a virus than spyware, it's just at some point you agreed to install it... Be wary of the word "free"

[mahlon]

once you clean it up, install Spywareblaster, put it in your startup and always run it! I've had it for 6 months and just ran adaware the other day and it found 0 (zero) files!

and for goodness sakes, use Firefox! :)

[netscan]

I don't want to start a flame thread but there is really no reason to drop IE as long as you pay attention to what your clicking on. FireFox is a nice a browser (although I can't use it full time), but if it ever picks up speed, they will attack it as well.

The best thing to do is RTFP (read the fine print). Know what is going into your system and stay away from spammy websites. Update and run spybot as religously as you run your anti-virus scans, you are running anti-virus scans aren't you.....

[jpmuldoon]

A definite thumbs up for Spybot, it cleaned out some crap that had hi jacked my browser about a month ago. THe tech guy said it was the best thing currently out there they had found.

[jdMorgan]

joycpa,

If you can't download these spyware/hijacker removers on your infected machine, how about using another computer to download them and then write them to a CD, CD/RW, or even a USB memory stick for use on yur machine? If you followed all of the points that have been posted above and are still having no luck, then that's one more possible solution before you revert to reinstalling Windows.

Jim

[netscan]

And when you install spybot or adaware, install them in a directory other than the default. I ran accross a nasty hijacker that would break spybot in the default directory, even provided it's own version of the Google home page, when I tried to do a search for spybot, it would place its products in the normal serps, nice huh...

These programs are getting really nasty and more difficult to evade so again, be careful what you download and what terms you agree to when installing.