Typing non-existing domain redirects to an ads page

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Guest

I have Win XP + IE6/SP2. Whenever I mistype a domain name, the IE goes
through a series of redirects and settles on an ads page in Chinese!

"about:blank" and "Search" pages are fine - only the "domain not found"
seems to trigger this.

The latest Lavasoft's Ad-Aware (build 1.06r1) didn't find any issues.
The Windows defender (beta 2) didn't find any issues
The HijackThis didn't log anything out of the ordinary

The problem is local to my notebook and exists whether I connect at work or
at home. Other computers on the same corporate or home network do not have
this problem.

Only the IE affected. Firefox running on the same laptop does not have this
issue.

I would appreciate any suggestions,
Glen
 
Hi Glen,

Check your settings for IE in the following registry key

hklm\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
-Default_Search_URL

This is the page that IE navigates to when it can resolve a domain.

Alternatively on the Programs tab of Internet Options click the Reset Web
settings button to return search urls to their defaults. Or Reinstall the
Google, Yahoo or MSN toolbars if you have them - they will reset the search
url values also.

Regards.
 
Rob, thank you.

The Default_Search_URL key has its default value:
http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar=iesearch

I didn't have any of these toolbars. I just installed Google toolbar and it
didn't help.

I did tried the Reset Web Setting button even before my original post. It
didn't help either.

I noticed one thing though. The Search From the Address Bar option was set
to "Just go to the most likely site". Selecting "Just display results in the
main window" also shows a rogue page in Chinese, but a different page.

Selecting "Do not serach from the address bar" seemed to fix this. However,
I am very curious by which means these rogue pages cause themselves to be
shown.

Regards,
Glen
 
Hi Glen,

It could be that you have an errant entry in your HOSTs file that is
redirecting your search defaults to the unwanted url.
It sounds like you have the knowledge to find and edit your hosts file, but
post back if you need instructions or search this group for discussions on
the HOSTs file.

Regards.
 
Glen said:
I have Win XP + IE6/SP2. Whenever I mistype a domain name, the IE goes
through a series of redirects and settles on an ads page in Chinese!
Click to expand...


Some badly configured DNS servers do this.

Try using nslookup (in a cmd window) to do the same erroneous lookup
and see what happens. If you like you can also try using nslookup
in its interactive mode and then use its set command to get more detail
for your test. Enter set all to see your server's current settings.

BTW this is slightly off-topic for this newsgroup. You may get a more
informed answer in a newsgroup which specializes in networking for
your OS. Here is a troubleshooter which has a link to such a newsgroup
if you need more help:

http://www.michna.com/kb/


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
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