Internet Question

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:41 pm

Howdy!

Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need someone...

…To help me with a problematic, Internet-thingamajig. I will be eternally grateful, if someone could figure out what the heck is goin' on. Basically, I can't access Ebay.com and Amazon -- they both come up as dead links. The only other piece of information I can give to you fine bunch of people is that I’m using Internet Explorer. *Looks in mirror and notices the little red dot hovering around forehead* Any ideas?

It's been like this for longer than I care to mention -- I’ve had (Seemingly) unrelated virus encounters, and subsequent "clean-ups" since the problem arose. However, none of this has had any effect on the aforementioned problem.

I tried pressing Ctrl + C, followed by Ctrl + V, but that just made picture of a sandwich appear. ~:o~;)~ So I turned to you lot, as you're such a smashing bunch.

Thanks a lot

Sixswitch · Post by **Sixswitch** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:46 pm

A few simple things:

Download Firefox.

If you don't want to download Firefox, try clearing your cache, history, saved passwords etc:

Tools>Options>and delete your Cookies, Temporary Internet Files and History

Then restart yer browser and try again.

I have come across instances of IE not displaying gmail.com, but I could view it in Firefox. This was on an old and crappy computer mind.

-Ss

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 11:51 pm

Yes, get Firefox (and Opera -- they're both free, and both far less hassle than IE. Put it this way, the American government's never issued security warnings about Firefox or Opera...)

Could be a screwed hosts file, either due to virus activity or bodged cleanup --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file

Find yours, and see what entries (if any) it contains.

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:05 am

Wow! Thanks for the quick replies.

I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and download Firefox. Still, to the best of my knowledge, I don’t believe I’ve ever had a problem with Internet Explorer, other than this, of course, whereas I had an awful experience with Firefox (Though it was probably something completely unrelated); the day I downloaded it the mouse sensitivity went insane, and the browser wouldn't work properly. Soon after, my computer essentially died.

I've seen the light, so it's time to let go of the past! ~:D~:o~

Cheers

Post by **Denyer** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:56 am

If it doesn't sort things, you definitely need to check the hosts file.

Are you applying OS patches? If not, either turn on Windows Update or head over to http://autopatcher.com/

AV: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Firewall: http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Kerio-Download.cfm

Without the OS patching, almost anything could let nasties in (though browsing with IE is by far the most likely infection vector.) Bear in mind that IE's embedded in other applications, including Outlook Express.

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:52 pm

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/security ... for_2.html

"For a total 284 days in 2006 (or more than nine months out of the year), exploit code for known, unpatched critical flaws in pre-IE7 versions of the browser was publicly available on the Internet. Likewise, there were at least 98 days last year in which no software fixes from Microsoft were available to fix IE flaws that criminals were actively using to steal personal and financial data from users."

I'm sure IE7 will be, er, better. Yeah right...

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:02 pm

*

*

Howdy folks.

Right, every time I download Firefox this happens: when I go to use it, the mouse sensitivity is rather odd, images don't load instantly, and eventually my computer starts saying "You are working offline" when quite clearly I'm not -- I mean I have broadband :________

Help? Thank you for your time.

A shiny anthropomorphic elephant (Not too dissimilar to Bump) awaits whoever can solve this riddle. <___<

slartibartfast · Post by **slartibartfast** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:21 pm

...how did i end up replying to this ? I don't know anything about computers... anyway, I probably keyed in the same stuff you did into google. I can only see it being either a software conflict, a virus/spyware/trojan/spartan wotsit, or a memory leak.

One of my ways of sorting out problems in windows is to open the task manager and shut down processes one by one... it might exclude the conflict theory. You'll need a castle full of french and a catapult to get rid of any trojans though. Firefox is notorious for memory leaks it seems, so you could try this or some related-type-thing. You could try tweaking it a bit too. like here

there you go, it's probably insulting your intelligence, but i thought I'd try

Post by **Denyer** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:52 pm

Originally posted by Aardvark
A shiny anthropomorphic elephant (Not too dissimilar to Bump) awaits whoever can solve this riddle. <___<

Have you tried rebooting and/or Opera to check it's definitely FF?

Aardvark · Post by **Aardvark** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:52 am

Originally posted by Denyer
Have you tried rebooting and/or Opera to check it's definitely FF?

Unfortunately, I have. I will admit that my comp is a little wonky and does do some pretty peculiar things. I'll keep at it till my computer's normal again. Cheers for the help though *Have an elephant on the house*

Originally posted by slartibartfast

there you go, it's probably insulting your intelligence, but i thought I'd try

Not at all -- appreciate your help. *You too may have an elephant on the house -- a pink one!*

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:44 pm

Originally posted by Aardvark
Right, every time I download Firefox this happens: when I go to use it, the mouse sensitivity is rather odd, images don't load instantly, and eventually my computer starts saying "You are working offline" when quite clearly I'm not -- I mean I have broadband :________

Firefox has its "work offline" feature under the File menu. It has the wonderfully irritating habit of not recognising when you've gone back online... you need to actually tell it "I'm back on teh interweb" when you've stopped doing the being offline.

Obviously this is only after you've specifically told it you want to do the offline stuff.

This might not be the answer, but it's worth checking. I remember having a blazing row with my FF once because it kept telling me I wasn't connected when I was. It turned out I'd selected "work offline" and hadn't toggled it back.

Technology, eh?

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:16 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon
It has the wonderfully irritating habit of not recognising when you've gone back online...

It's a sane feature -- with an always-on internet connection, there are times you want a browser to connect only to resources on the local filesystem (such as a network drive) and not to external sites.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:17 pm

I didn't say it wasn't sane. I said it's wonderfully irritating. It wasn't sarcasm... it's irritating, yet wonderful.

I'm going to go sit in the corner and cry or something now.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:43 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon

I'm going to go sit in the corner and cry or something now.

And Denyer's work here is done...

Post by **Denyer** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:02 pm

Ah, good ol' Your Sinclair...

slartibartfast · Post by **slartibartfast** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 6:16 pm

so who's your amiga riding off with you there ?

edit : ah, thanks Aardvark. still not working i gather.