IE accesses only certain sites

Nice job spending the time to try all of our steps.

Uninstall My Search Bar from "Add/Remove Programs" in the Windows® Control Panel. Look for entries called "My Search Bar", "Search Assistant - My Search" and "My Way Speedbar".

I would do a scan of your system afterwards with the usual tools to be sure as well as check startup items. If all that works, running Hijack This to check for (hopefully) now obsolete My Way entries would be good.

Check back with us.

 

jc,

Post your HijackThis log as a .txt file attachment and we will have a look.

 

You said you followed the READ ME FIRST. If you did, you would be using Ad-aware SE.
Why didn't you change to the new version?

 

If they were the same they would not have needed to release a new version. They are much different. The new version even has the ability to scan for ADS (Alternate Data Streams).
Are you a paid subscriber using Ad-watch?
If not, switch to Ad-aware SE (make sure you uninstall Ad-aware 6 when prompted).

 

You are supposed to click on the hot links there. That is why we put them in the tutorial. Click on it and tell me what you get. You do not get Ad-aware! You get the current version of Ad-aware SE. Following the directions is important for you and for the people helping you. We need to know that the proper versions with correct up to date definitions are being run. You would not believe how many times a users swears they are using the current version and that they have clicked the "check for update" buttons and there are no updates. Then when we specifically ask "what version are you running" and they have an old version. That's why there are no updates. The main program is out of date. The same is now true for Ad-aware 6. It no longer has any updates and everyone says, "I am up to date. I clicked update just today". Same goes for SpyBot. We still have people using version 1.2. Also for HijackThis we constantly get people posting logs using v1.97.7 and the correct version is 1.98.2. All they had to do is click on the link in the tutorial they said they read and they would have the correct version. Even you did not follow directions on using HijackThis. Look in your log at these two lines:
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\John Sturtz\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

You were specifically told in the HJT Tutorial that,

"All running programs should be closed, including your web browser, email, items in the tray, anything you can close... Close before running Hijack This! Do not to install Hijack This to the Desktop, a temp folder or choose run from the download. Place it in its own folder, for example C:\Program Files\HJT"

Did you follow directions? Hmmmm? Firefox is a browser and you have HJT on your Desktop!

So perhaps you may feel like I was chastizing you, but think of what I go thru a 100 times a day having to repeat the same stuff over an over again because many people simply do not take the time to look at the sticky threads. And when they do, they don't follow the instructions anyway. I'm not saying it is everyone. But it is a lot. You have to realize that this gets extremely frustrating for us helpers and we can get grumpy sometimes. But we still continue to provide outstanding help.

 

I do not see any problems in you HJT log. Have you checked to see what is in your Internet Explorer, Tools, Security, Restricted Zones. See if any of the sites you are having problems with are listed there. If so, remove them from the list.

Also, check your hosts file to see if something was inserted there to block the sites. Your hosts file is in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts You can quickly bring this up by click Start, run and in the open box enter the following command:
notepad c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

then click ok.

The default file should look like the below:
# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost

 

Which ones were you removing? I did not want you to remove anything from the restricted zones that should be restricted. If they certain ones are being added back in you should check to see who is adding them back in. Is it PestPatro, NavNT, or SpySweeper? Maybe the ones in there should be restricted. What I was bringing up in my previous message was for you to check the restricted zones to see if any of the sites you want to go to are in there.

A firewall can case similar issues. Do you have a firewall (hardware or software)? Some routers have firewalls.

Which browser are you running when you have problems? FireFox or IE? Do they both ave the same problems? If you cannot get a set with IE, did you try it with FireFox? Do they both prevent access to the site?

 

You need to check to see if there is anything setup in your firewall to block those sites.

So for example you mean if you try to go to:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

you cannot get there. What do yet get? What is the exact message?

How about this way:

http://207.46.150.51

does that work?

When did the problem first surface? Had anything new been added to your system (hardware or software)?