URLs & Host are Blocked

  • Thread starter Thread starter Semi Head
  • Start date Start date
S

Semi Head

When i try to visit certain urls with my up-to-date Windows XP-Home &
the latest IE 6.0 browser, like Spyblaster's home site, Spybot S & D
home site, majorgeeks.com, & etc, i can't connect to those sites,

IE acts like the sites do not exist. i know these sites exit cause i was
able to visit them with this old WebTV internet set-top box (just now).

So it seems obvious, that those site's urls (& probably many more urls)
have been put into some sort of block host list. however i can't figure
out how to remove them.
Will someone share their knowledge & explain how to fix this problem.

S_H
 
Semi Head said:
When i try to visit certain urls with my up-to-date Windows XP-Home &
the latest IE 6.0 browser, like Spyblaster's home site, Spybot S & D
home site, majorgeeks.com, & etc, i can't connect to those sites,

IE acts like the sites do not exist. i know these sites exit cause i was
able to visit them with this old WebTV internet set-top box (just now).

So it seems obvious, that those site's urls (& probably many more urls)
have been put into some sort of block host list. however i can't figure
out how to remove them.
Will someone share their knowledge & explain how to fix this problem.
Click to expand...
Go to Windows\System32\Drivers\etc

You'll find a file in there called HOSTS.
It should be empty apart from a few comment lines and a line which says
127.0.0.1 localhost. If it isn't, then something has infected your PC.
You could try removing the additional lines and if that cures it then
you're OK.
 
When i try to visit certain urls with my up-to-date Windows XP-Home &
the latest IE 6.0 browser, like Spyblaster's home site, Spybot S & D
home site, majorgeeks.com, & etc, i can't connect to those sites,
[ chomp ]
Click to expand...

Perhaps malware has hijacked your hosts file. Look at this file:
c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

This line is the only one that's supposed to be there:
127.0.0.1 localhost

All other lines are attempts by malware to prevent you from getting to av
web sites.
 
On that special day, Semi Head, ([email protected]) said...
IE acts like the sites do not exist. i know these sites exit cause i was
able to visit them with this old WebTV internet set-top box (just now).
Click to expand...

- use something different from IE, eg Mozilla or Opera.

- check the contents of your hosts (no extension) file. Any line with a
group of four numbers, separated by dots, and a website name URL after
that, is suspicious, if it isn't

127.0.0.1 localhost



Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)
 
Yep! I viewed the "host" file using the notebook program. The "host"
file is filled with nearly a 100 websites that deal with programs that
fight spyware, virus, trojans & malware.
What i did, as a quickie test, i changed the "host" file name to
"host.old" which did the trick. Everything that was blocked, i could
visit, again.

Thanks to you, Mr. Conor, & the other people, who responded, for your
"how to fix" suggestions.
Most kind of you, all. :-)

4 More Related ?'s:
™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™™
1. Should i go back & re-create the "host" file again & add the
suggested one line?
2. ...or will having no "host" file hurt my system somehow, like
slowing it down?
3. What advantage is there in keeping the host file with the one line?
4. Is "host" file, mainly, for the benefit of a software firewall?

Example:
Path:
"Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\"

File name: host
host file contents: (without the quotes)

"127.0.0.1 localhost"

S_H
 
from the said:
Yep! I viewed the "host" file using the notebook program. The "host"
file is filled with nearly a 100 websites that deal with programs that
fight spyware, virus, trojans & malware.
What i did, as a quickie test, i changed the "host" file name to
"host.old" which did the trick. Everything that was blocked, i could
visit, again.

Thanks to you, Mr. Conor, & the other people, who responded, for your
"how to fix" suggestions.
Most kind of you, all. :-)
Click to expand...
<snip>

1) Don't bother to put it back unless you particularly want to. Only a
program that tries to access 'localhost' (by name) will fail, and there
are not, afaik, many of those.

2) DO try to figure out exactly which Trojan you caught and how you
caught it. The next one might trash your entire disk instead of (or as
well as) messing with hosts file. Even worse, it might be a sock-puppet
sending spam (as well as copies of itself) to the rest of us.
 
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