www.microsoft.com says "this domain is for sale"

Has anyone run across this. When we go to some sites (not all sites) we receive a page that says "this domain is for sale". The site is legit. Some example sites with this problem is www.microsoft.com and www.ups.com when we go into tracking. This problem does not happen all the time. Any ideas would be great.

 

HI!
I agree with TimW...something's NOT right.
It sounds like you've reached a 'spoofed' website..not where you THOUGHT you were. Check out the malware steps and then pop into the Malware forum as Tim suggested.
I have a cool item called 'Spoof Stick' that let's me know EXACTLY where I am at all times. Once you get fixed up you may want to give it a go.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/SpoofStick_for_Internet_Explorer_d4453.html
SpoofStick for Internet Explorer 1.02

 

Thanks but it has to be something other than spyware. It happens on multiple machines and we are running Trend w/spyware removal.

 

Definitely spoofed, no doubt, run those scans

 

Things to check:

If you're network is using a domain running DNS check that it hasn't been poisoned, and are properly forwarding requests outside your network.

Local computers host's files! Make sure erroneous entries haven't been added!

Local DNS caches can be cleared using 'ipconfig /flushdns'

Somewhere along the line, the host name "www.microsoft.com" is being mapped to the wrong IP, and hence you are getting the wrong website.

As everyone has said, the root cause is most likely malware...as good as Trend Micro can be (are you running OfficeScan?) once the bugs get in, they can disable your AV and AS apps. Don't put it out of the question.

If none of the above help, its possible your external DNS server has been poisoned. You can try configuring your local computers primary DNS server as 4.2.2.2 (Verizon's DNS server) as a troubleshooting step.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and we will check these out. Yes, these are on a Novell network and we are using OfficeScan with DCS (Damage Control Services). I hope it's easy to isolate because this is really causing us some problems and it's not consistant. It comes and goes.