[CACrowned1]

I went through the malware cleanup and they sent me here. I am unable to access any microsoft.com, www.eteamz.com, www.ubid.com as well as several others. I cannot access them from IE or Firefox. The malware tech feels certain there are no malware issues on the PC. I have taken all firewalls out of the picture and still have the same result. ANY help you can provide will be appreciated ... otherwise I think I am just going to have to wipe the machine.
Thanks in advance

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I'm assuming that you're getting a page cannot be displayed message when trying to navigate to these sites? Ensure that the hosts and lmhosts files do not contain any entries for the sites you cannot get to.

These files are located in the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc folder.

Example file:

# Copyright © 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
***1**** ***2***

The 1 and 2 were added by me for instruction. The 1 is the IP address to be used when going to the site listed at position 2. If you have anything here for the sites you cannot get to, delete the entire line from the hosts and lmhosts file and then save the file. Reboot your computer and try again.

Note: Open these files in Notepad for editing.

Certified IT Solutions

[Nick Burns]

I'm assuming that you're getting a page cannot be displayed message when trying to navigate to these sites? Ensure that the hosts and lmhosts files do not contain any entries for the sites you cannot get to.

These files are located in the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc folder.

Example file:

# Copyright © 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
***1**** ***2***

The 1 and 2 were added by me for instruction. The 1 is the IP address to be used when going to the site listed at position 2. If you have anything here for the sites you cannot get to, delete the entire line from the hosts and lmhosts file and then save the file. Reboot your computer and try again.

Note: Open these files in Notepad for editing.

Certified IT Solutions

[CACrowned1]

Thank you very much for your help. I checked both the HOSTS and LMHOSTS. There are no entries in the LMHOSTS file and the only entry in the HOSTS file is 127.0.0.1 localhost. The malware group had me run HostXpert and at one point I had that program create a new HOSTS file because they had all been deleted. Thanks and I look forward to any further advice you can offer.

[Nick Burns]

There is something overriding the DNS entry for the sites you are trying to visit if you can get to other sites fine. Manually set your primary DNS address to 4.2.2.1 -- the primary SBC(AT&T?) DNS server. Let me know if you need instructions for how to do this.

[CACrowned1]

Thank you again for your reply. I set my preferred DNS server to 4.2.2.1 and I am still not able to access the sites. When I try MS, I get "Opening page http://www.microsoft.com... but the site never opens. Any further ideas you may have are appreciated.

[Runscanner]

These files are located in the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc folder.

This is not completely correct.

This is indeed the standard path, but it can be changed by changing this registry entry:
HKLM/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/Tcpip/Parameters/DatabasePath

Download runscanner, it has a hosts file editor which points to the correct hosts file location.
If you still have problems, create a ".run" file, zip it and attach it to your post.

(Be careful, don't delete anything using Runscanner)

[CACrowned1]

It looks like that is the path based on the runscanner.log file ... here is the entry : Hosts file location : %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc

I uploaded the zipped runscanner.run file.

Thanks again for the help.

Attached Files

•  runscanner.zip   78.21KB   100 downloads

[Runscanner]

I don't see anything wrong what might causing this.
I noticed that you are running a personal firewall (symantec/norton)

Is it possible that your blocked the sites on your firewall?

[CACrowned1]

Unfortunately no, I have even completely uninstalled Norton and turned off XP firewall and still no luck. I have been searching the web and I cannot seem to find a fix. I still cannot access any Microsoft.com sites. I would try installing IE7, but I can't get to MS site. I guess I am going to have to rebuild the machine.