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General discussion

I cant access mcafee.com, microsoft.com, or hotmail.com

Jan 4, 2005 11:34PM PST

i recently came home from the holidays. I turned on my pc and my firewall had expired so was my virus scanned which were both from mcafee. I attempted to bring up mcafee.com via mozilla, but it didnt work so i tried internet explorer that also didnt work. then i tried to update my computer and also tried to check my email i could not get through. i could to surf to other site except those. i restarted and had the same problem. So i uninstall both the firewall and the viruscan and download norton virus scan and firewall... i tried to connect to all the sites stated above but had the same problem after couple day the norton expired and now im using just the windows firewall and avg virusscanner.

I tried to connect to that trendmicro housecall site but it also would not let me go to there...i can go to most website except certain av sites and certain mail
site like hotmail.com.

would really appreciate the assistance..thanks in advance

Discussion is locked

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Greg, Some Steps To Take
Jan 5, 2005 12:21AM PST

Make sure to completely uninstall the McAfee and Norton software..Next, give us the operating system that you are using.

Next, check your "HOSTS" file for the websites that you have listed. Do a search on your computer for a file named "HOSTS" (without the quotes and it will NOT have a file extension.) You may find other files with HOSTS in their name, like Hosts.sam, or something similar. The one in question in simply named "HOSTS". If it's there, open it using Notepad, then check for "McAfee.com", etc. If they are there, then save the changes and close the file. Try accessing those sites again.

Next, download the McAfee Stinger tool from the link below to your desktop. Once it's there, run it and see if it detects any viruses:

McAfee Stinger
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

If you still come up clean, please download, install, update, then run the free spyware removal tools from the links below:

Ad-Aware">http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/]Ad-Aware

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I did what you said
Jan 5, 2005 7:39AM PST

well i did what you said...heres what i saw in the host file

# Copyright (c) 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


then i ran the stinger and i found nothing...i already had the programs you suggested i just updated them...spybot and shredder said that they were clean but adware found something called alexa from my recollection i think i had that one before but had no trouble with it. so i deleted it and rebooted
i tried to access mcafee.com or microsoft but still didnt get through...
thanks for the advice...have anymore

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Greg, Just Some Thoughts...
Jan 5, 2005 9:29AM PST

The HOSTS file version you have shown is the "sample" HOSTS file and doesn't appear to be a problem.

Which version of XP are you using? SP1 or SP2?

Which type of internet connection are you using? Dial-up or broadband?

And just because there were some recent problems, are you using Comcast cable?

Please click the links below and install them.

First, download and install the newest Windows Scripting host for your machine:

Windows Script 5.6 for Windows 2000 and XP

Next, download and run the LSP fix tool from the link below:

Repairs Winsock 2 settings caused by buggy software or improperly removed internet software:
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm

Hope this helps.

Grif

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Its me again
Jan 5, 2005 11:16AM PST

well i said previous or first message i cant access any microsoft site...i click on the link and a new page came up but it was just sitting there you could see that it was trying to load but something seem to be preventing it. im going to try that second link that works and download that program ill post what happens in the morning

thanks again

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Update on use of the second link program
Jan 5, 2005 11:24AM PST

this is what i see and what i did
i click on the box that said i dont know what im doing and click finish and this was the result
0 namespace provider entries removed
0 namespace provider entries renumbered
0 protocol provider entries remove
0 protocol provider entries renumbered

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cant access mcafee,, microsoft or hotmail
Feb 13, 2005 12:08AM PST

if you have windows xp and using dsl then go into
control panel , network connections, click on your
network icon and click on open. on the advanced
tab uncheck " protect my computer" and then click
ok (this removes the microsoft firewall) then
try to go online to mcafee to renew your subscription
and then try your hotmail.
after that is done, go back and put a check mark
back into microsoft firewall. (it is a double protection with mcafee firewall)