Search engine problem...
 

Yesterday I could not use anything on the internet but my ICQ and found out through Linksys that it was because my DNS numbers were wrong on my new machine and I should not have been able to do anything for the last month.

Anyways today I cannot use any search engines but can use any of my sites listed in my favorites or if I type out a url in the address bar.

Anyone have a clue as to what is happening?


Art

You've probably got those sites in your bookmarks cached on your drive. I assume you use Windows? Hit Ctrl-F5 to reload one of the bookmarked sites and see if it reloads. If it doesn't, yes your DNS if not setup properly. Call your ISP and have them give you the correct DNS ips. Put them in your Linksys router and reboot your PC.

What are the IP addresses of those DNS servers?

I had this problem -- apparently there's an unpatched Internet Explorer exploit (read http://antivirus.about.com/cs/adware.../a/qhosts1.htm) that causes your attempts to access search engines like google to be redirected.

Check your /windows/hosts file to see if a bunch of search sites are listed. If they are, clear them out. Also update your antivirus software and run it.

Using a browser other than internet explorer will keep you safe until a patch is released.

They reloaded fine.

I can type stuff into the url address bar that I have never been to before and it comes up fine. It is just the search engines that I tried.


Art

I dont think I got that virus. The only site that does not work is Yahoo. I talked to my ISP and they had no clue. I can use google but it baffles me as to why Yahoo is something I cannot use.


Art

You might want to check your /windows/hosts file anyway (if you haven't already) and look for any reference to yahoo (because there shouldn't be any). There probably isn't, but it's easy to check and easy to fix.

I have had this happen to me at work, removed the url's from the hosts file, updates and ran symantec, downloaded the patch, everything, still can't get to google. Can get to other search engines, but when searching, "Page cannot be displayed" comes up. Any ideas?

Nevermind, my "trusty sidekick" didn't reboot, all fixed.

sorry to be noob but how i get to hosts file

do a search for it on your pc, it'll be in your windows dir, possibly in a subfolder like system32\drivers

To all that have this problem:

I had this problem about a month ago and downloaded every single fix for it including the McAfee, Norton, and Symantec fix. NONE of them fixed my problem. I also ran AdAware, Norton, and Symantec all in a row with all of the up to date Windows XP updates and it didn't fix it either. Hell, I uninstalled and reinstalled Internet Explorer and that didn't fix it.

I ended up formatting my PC and putting Windows XP back on it. That fixed it instantly. Sorry to bring bad experiences, but I just want to let you know that the only way I got it fixed was formatting. Good luck on fixing it; I certainly didn't have any!

-Lasereth

sounds like a DNS problem