PC help required

[loveandpride]

I can't connect to Google on my PC every other site is fine though, I'm running Internet Explorer

[Scottish Yellow]

Try Mozilla Firefox, it's a bit more stable than Explorer.

[loveandpride]

Aug 3, 2010 21:19:17 GMT Scottish Yellow said:

Try Mozilla Firefox, it's a bit more stable than Explorer.

can I download it or do I have to buy it?

[Scottish Yellow]

It's free you just need to download it from
www.mozilla.com

[malcolmnl]

Firefox is definately much better and it has thousands of add-ons.
One of the best that I recommend to all pc owners is Ghostery.
This stops those little added-in scripts in a webpage reporting to nosy-parkers what you're looking at. That info is used to direct ads to some websites more directly towards your interests. And as by product it prevents many ads appearing on pages. It even makes the Oxford Mail site readable.

[oxun]

Aug 5, 2010 7:35:49 GMT malcolmnl said:

One of the best that I recommend to all pc owners is Ghostery.
This stops those little added-in scripts in a webpage reporting to nosy-parkers what you're looking at. That info is used to direct ads to some websites more directly towards your interests. And as by product it prevents many ads appearing on pages. It even makes the Oxford Mail site readable.

Thanks for that tip Malcolm, hadnt heard of it before and will be a usefull addition - agree with the other posters that firefox is much better than ie and ive had hardly any probs since switching last year

[SteMerritt]

Never been a Firefox fan myself. I have 2 browsers, IE8 (for work), Chrome (for play).

[loveandpride]

I downloaded firefox and still couldn't get on to google

[Scottish Yellow]

Aug 5, 2010 16:39:09 GMT loveandpride said:

I downloaded firefox and still couldn't get on to google

On firefox you've got a search bar with a drop down in the top right of your screen. Google should be in there.

[SteMerritt]

Aug 5, 2010 16:39:09 GMT loveandpride said:

I downloaded firefox and still couldn't get on to google

I did think that changing browser wouldn't help. Could be a virus causing it.

What happens if you type the following into your address bar?

173.194.36.104/

[loveandpride]

Good work pal that's done it! what is that the server IP address or something?

[SteMerritt]

That is the IP address of the main google site. Why your machine isn't resolving the web address correctly is a worry though.

[loveandpride]

I can get onto google but when I search for something f**k all happens!

[boris]

I had a similar problem - IE was fine, but in Firefox whenever I did a Google search it directed me to an ad page or a page that pulled up lots of virus alerts. None of my anti-virus progs could fix it and in the end I had to pay a techy bloke £70 to fix it - some worm or something had delved deep into my registry and none of the usual fixes could find it (even the ones that specifically stated they could get rid of the Google Redirect Virus). It's okay now, though.

[oxymoron]

If you able to connect to other sites using the DNS, then your computer is probably sound, but you have suffered a corruption to the IP settings and/or the registry. This could be a virus or maybe a result of some over-zealous deletions by AdAware or another simlar anti-spyware program.

You can
1) Check that you are aquiring your DNS automatically (Control Panel, Network Settings, Properties)
2) Remove the IP table stored in memory by typing "ipconfig/flushdns" at the command prompt
3) Restart your PC and try again

There is a facility called WinSockFix, which claims to fix this sort of problem as a "last resort", you can try it at your own risk ... if you can find it to download it that is. ;D

I'll presume you haven't fiddled with the hosts file on you PC, but you can type "ipconfig/displaydns" at the command prompt to list local IP/DNS conversions - check if Google appears as anything other that the address given earlier. You can edit hosts with notepad to remove the bad entry.

Otherwise, you will probably need to reinstall the OS to fix the problem.

And if all the above is like reading Russian, then you need to take you PC to a repair geek...

[loveandpride]

Thanks mate, it does sound confusing but I'll give it a go the laptop went to a repair geek recentley so I don't really want to pay out again if I can help it Cheers

[Hamworthy Yellow]

Had something similar at work. The boss clicked on an email attachment that had a virus in it.
It stopped internet access and prevented us sending email, what it did was change the IP address of our default gateway. If I rebooted everything was OK for about half an hour then IP address changed again. It took me the best part of two days to sort it out using various anti malware and anti virus progs.

[loveandpride]

Fell at the first hurdle, I'm afraid couldn't find 'Network settings' is there any way it could be called something else?

[Pogue Mahone]

Aug 9, 2010 12:50:45 GMT loveandpride said:

Fell at the first hurdle, I'm afraid couldn't find 'Network settings' is there any way it could be called something else?

Had something similar and had to format the PC. Might not be a bad idea if it hasn't been done before.

Also, you might want to hide your e-mail address on this site in your profile. As it stands everyone can see it.

[boris]

Aug 6, 2010 15:57:03 GMT oxymoron said:

If you able to connect to other sites using the DNS, then your computer is probably sound, but you have suffered a corruption to the IP settings and/or the registry. This could be a virus or maybe a result of some over-zealous deletions by AdAware or another simlar anti-spyware program.

You can
1) Check that you are aquiring your DNS automatically (Control Panel, Network Settings, Properties)
2) Remove the IP table stored in memory by typing "ipconfig/flushdns" at the command prompt
3) Restart your PC and try again

There is a facility called WinSockFix, which claims to fix this sort of problem as a "last resort", you can try it at your own risk ... if you can find it to download it that is. ;D

I'll presume you haven't fiddled with the hosts file on you PC, but you can type "ipconfig/displaydns" at the command prompt to list local IP/DNS conversions - check if Google appears as anything other that the address given earlier. You can edit hosts with notepad to remove the bad entry.

Otherwise, you will probably need to reinstall the OS to fix the problem.

And if all the above is like reading Russian, then you need to take you PC to a repair geek...

The application that the chap who fixed my PC used was ComboFix www.combofix.org/. He also recommended that I remove AdAware because it conflicted with the various other anti-virus software that I had running.