Windows 7 Can't reach some websites?

[prroots]

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium with the latest updates. I have a strange problem. I can go to some websites, but not others. For example, I can load Find a Local Business, Ratings, Reviews, Deals | Angie's List, but not https://my.angieslist.com/angieslist/login.aspx. I have switched from automatic DNS lookup to fixed DNS, but that makes no difference. Any help would be much appreciated. Note: the same problem is experienced with Firefox, Opera, and IE. I called Angies List and they do not have any issues ie, they were able to log into my account.
Pete

 

[Pauli]

You get any warnings? If you get the DNS warning, you should probably contact your Internet provider.

It may be either your firewall or antivirus blocking the connection, for some reason. I could reach Angie's, no problems. The easiest way to test it would be to turn off firewall and antivirus, and try to reach the page. If you reach it, it's either firewall or antivirus or the combination of them. Thus, turn on one of them, test the page... etc. IT IS SAFE TO RUMBLE ON THE NET FOR A FEW HOURS, DON'T WORRY.

If the problem is there, it can probably be corrected through settings. Please inform what firewall and antivirus you have, preferably with version too.

 

[prroots]

You get any warnings? If you get the DNS warning, you should probably contact your Internet provider. It may be either your firewall or antivirus blocking the connection, for some reason. I could reach Angie's, no problems. The easiest way to test it would be to turn off firewall and antivirus, and try to reach the page. If you reach it, it's either firewall or antivirus or the combination of them. Thus, turn on one of them, test the page... etc. IT IS SAFE TO RUMBLE ON THE NET FOR A FEW HOURS, DON'T WORRY. If the problem is there, it can probably be corrected through settings. Please inform what firewall and antivirus you have, preferably with version too.

Thanks for the response. I get no warnings. Firefox displays the message 'Connecting to xxx' where xxx is the URL of the site. That message displays continuously and the page never comes up. I tried turning off both antivirus (MS Security Essentials V4.0.1526.0) and firewall (Windows 7 updated). I then tested on two sites that don't work and they still don't work. BTW, I can go to Angie's List home page, but I can't bring up the log in page. I'm connected to the internet via a WiFi hotspot using Public network if that matters. I checked with the WiFi manager and he said no one else has complained of this issue. The WiFi here has worked without problems in the past; this issue has just started within the last week.
Pete

 

[patcooke]

Norton has a feature to specifically block secure sites - do you have (or ever had) Norton on your pc? Is the problem limited to https sites. If so you could test access using port 443 (which is the default for https) by trying this address in your bowser:

Link Removed

If that fails then it seems likely that your problem is related to https services or forwarding on port 443.

 

[Pauli]

One aspect I managed to ignore totally was the issue of how long has this gone on, can you remember any certain point of time when it started and, if anything specific might have happened? Sometimes problems are related to something quite else than the problem seems to be. So please, try scratching your head in order to remember --- no offense here, as you certainly do understand.

 

[prroots]

Norton has a feature to specifically block secure sites - do you have (or ever had) Norton on your pc? Is the problem limited to https sites. If so you could test access using port 443 (which is the default for https) by trying this address in your bowser:

Link Removed

If that fails then it seems likely that your problem is related to https services or forwarding on port 443.

Thanks. Nope, Norton has never been installed on this computer; only Security Essentials and Windows firewall. Here are three websites that exhibit the problem:

https://my.angieslist.com/angieslist/login.aspx
Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board • Index page
Yahoo!
​

and here are three that work fine:

Find a Local Business, Ratings, Reviews, Deals | Angie's List
CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News
National Hurricane Center
​

BTW, that link to microsoft works fine!
Pete

 

[prroots]

One aspect I managed to ignore totally was the issue of how long has this gone on, can you remember any certain point of time when it started and, if anything specific might have happened? Sometimes problems are related to something quite else than the problem seems to be. So please, try scratching your head in order to remember --- no offense here, as you certainly do understand.

Yes, very true. It started about a week ago. I just can't remember anything specific. One thing I could do is to restore my C:\ drive back to March 2012 since I have an image backup from that date made with Acronis True Image.
Pete

 

[Pauli]

1. Do a thorough scan on your computer. Besides your own security programs, use an on-line scan too, and Malwarebytes.

2. What you could do is to restore your Windows back a week or two or so, Control Panel\System and Security\System\System Protection\System Restore. You should have some Restoration points, and they all show what programs are affected. Don't know how much this helps, though. I just looked at my own Restoration, it only had three points, all Windows updates.

3. You could check Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features, and uninstall any programs suspicious OR INSTALLED IN THE PAST, SAY, TWO WEEKS.

4. I had Denial of Service = DoS attacks twice, while active on YouTube. This could be something like that, in case you've expressed something... eh... dubious. People not only like and love each other, they do in fact hate each other. Not that I would want this to be the case.

Let's hope we get it figured out. Cheers.

 

[prroots]

1. Do a thorough scan on your computer. Besides your own security programs, use an on-line scan too, and Malwarebytes.

2. What you could do is to restore your Windows back a week or two or so, Control Panel\System and Security\System\System Protection\System Restore. You should have some Restoration points, and they all show what programs are affected. Don't know how much this helps, though. I just looked at my own Restoration, it only had three points, all Windows updates.

3. You could check Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features, and uninstall any programs suspicious OR INSTALLED IN THE PAST, SAY, TWO WEEKS.

4. I had Denial of Service = DoS attacks twice, while active on YouTube. This could be something like that, in case you've expressed something... eh... dubious. People not only like and love each other, they do in fact hate each other. Not that I would want this to be the case.

Let's hope we get it figured out. Cheers.

Thanks. I've started a complete scan, but it will take awhile to complete. I have restore turned off. I rely totally on Acronis True Image to backup my C:\drive. I just did a restore from March 2012 and see the exact same behavior. That backup was long before this problem was seen so it would not seem to be a Windows 7 configuration issue. That denial of service sounds plausible, but I can't figure out why it would affect some seemingly unrelated websites and not others? The other thought I had was that my WiFi adapter is failing, but again I don't see why it would affect some, but not other sites. I should also mention that yesterday I took my laptop to Wendy's and I was able to connect to all of those websites. The next thing I plan to do is to ask someone else to try connecting at my present location with their laptop to see if they have the same problem.

Pete

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

It may be that the wireless source you are connecting to has some kind of security running that blocks these sites inadvertently as some kind of address it's programmed to defend against.

If you have a number of places you can connect to, try some of the others as you did at Wendy's.

If you can connect at other sites, that kind of narrows it down to, not your computer.

Having some one else try and connect to these sites, through your source is a good idea too.

This really doesn't sound to me like it's a configuration issue, since you can connect someplace.
It never hurts to run Malwarebytes, (as Titanic said) if it's a malware issue it should find it.

Make sure that your LAN setting are set to Automatic and not a specific setting.
Some malware likes to change this and Malwarebytes won't change it back.

Mike

 

[prroots]

Hi

It may be that the wireless source you are connecting to has some kind of security running that blocks these sites inadvertently as some kind of address it's programmed to defend against.

If you have a number of places you can connect to, try some of the others as you did at Wendy's.

If you can connect at other sites, that kind of narrows it down to, not your computer.

Having some one else try and connect to these sites, through your source is a good idea too.

This really doesn't sound to me like it's a configuration issue, since you can connect someplace.
It never hurts to run Malwarebytes, (as Titanic said) if it's a malware issue it should find it.

Make sure that your LAN setting are set to Automatic and not a specific setting.
Some malware likes to change this and Malwarebytes won't change it back.

Mike

Thanks. I just did a Malwarebytes scan. Nothing malicious found. Today I tried Wendy's and McDonald's; no problems at either location. I just verified that LAN is set to automatic. I'll try to find someone who will try using their laptop to connect to my WiFi source although as mentioned previously no one has notified the WiFi manager of a problem.

BTW, my WiFi source is a private service that receives it's internet from Comcast cable. I was told that there is no blocking regardless of the amount of data used.
Pete

 

[prroots]

I found someone to test the 3 websites I can't load; they couldn't either. This was a surprising result since no one has complained to the WiFi manager. I will now attempt to contact some kind of tech support for this service. At least I now know it's not related to my computer.
Pete

 

[davehc]

I dont use Opera, so cannot comment on that, but, it looks like the sites are all using security protocol, as many banks do. In IE, select Tools-internet Options-Advanced, and check "use SSL 2.0:, SSL 3,0:. and TLS 1.0. See if that improves the problem.
In Firefox, click Tools - Options
Select the Advanced Tab. - Encryption tab.
Ensure you have SSL 3.0 and Use TLS 1.0 check marked.
If, however, they are ticked, then perhaps the comcast requires some mods to the proxy settings? This is unlikely, but , Select again, in Firefox, the Advanced - Network window
Click Settings. If Manual proxy configuration is selected, you are using a manually configured proxy server, and all the protocols in the dialog box are pointing to the address of your proxy server. You will have to ask the Cocast network administrator what these addresses are.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'm running Comcast and didn't have any problem connecting, in fact I've never found Comcast to block anything.
But that doesn't mean that the Router isn't doing something funny.

Have you tried using a different browser like Chrome?

Mike

 

[prroots]

I dont use Opera, so cannot comment on that, but, it looks like the sites are all using security protocol, as many banks do. In IE, select Tools-internet Options-Advanced, and check "use SSL 2.0:, SSL 3,0:. and TLS 1.0. See if that improves the problem.
In Firefox, click Tools - Options
Select the Advanced Tab. - Encryption tab.
Ensure you have SSL 3.0 and Use TLS 1.0 check marked.
If, however, they are ticked, then perhaps the comcast requires some mods to the proxy settings? This is unlikely, but , Select again, in Firefox, the Advanced - Network window
Click Settings. If Manual proxy configuration is selected, you are using a manually configured proxy server, and all the protocols in the dialog box are pointing to the address of your proxy server. You will have to ask the Cocast network administrator what these addresses are.

Thanks. I've tried 3 browsers: Firefox, Opera, and IE and the problem is the same with all 3. I made your suggested IE changes without effect. My Firefox/Encryption was already set as you suggested. Also, Firefox/Network is setup to use System Proxy Setting which is probably the Firefox default since I haven't changed it. None of the above changes affected the problem
Pete

 

[prroots]

Hi

I'm running Comcast and didn't have any problem connecting, in fact I've never found Comcast to block anything.
But that doesn't mean that the Router isn't doing something funny.

Have you tried using a different browser like Chrome?

Mike

Thanks. Well, I've tried Firefox, Opera, and IE so I don't think the problem is related to the browser. In my case there is a private WiFi system interposed between me and Comcast which could be creating the problem. That would seem to be most likely since Comcast would have received numerous complaints if yahoo.com wasn't loading. The odd thing is that I don't see any correlation between the 3 sites that don't load?
Pete

 

[prroots]

All the sites that I couldn't reach are now loading without problem. I've spoken with a tech person for the private WiFi service and he stated that the problem was with Comcast. In fact he had trouble loading yahoo.com and he has an account directly with Comcast independent of the WiFi service. It's amazing how much time and energy was spent checking my laptop and it, in the end, had nothing at all to do with my laptop. Thanks to everyone who assisted.
Pete