Cannot reach some websites

[Atreides]

For some reason one of my computers cannot reach some websites. It just hangs on "Waiting for <something>..." Normally it's waiting for an ad server. It can't reach HowStuffWorks or pcworld, for example. I'm using my other computer to post this, because it can't get to PressF1.

It is a 2.8 GHz P4 with 1GB of RAM running Windows XP Home. I have 2 Mbps TelstraClear broadband (Though I'm lucky if it runs at half that speed normally, unrelated issue.) I have Norton Systemworks, ZoneAlarm (Free), Spybot S&D, Ad-aware SE. I normally use Firefox for internet browsing, but IE can't reach these sites either. Heh, IE just says "Waiting...", while Firefox provides the more useful message of just what server it is that it's waiting for.

Because it gets stuck on ad servers, I assumed that it was going to be one of the Anti-virus / Anti-spyware / Firewall programs. But all except Norton are on this computer too and it can get to the sites fine. And I close down all the programs and it still gets stuck. Before I discovered that those sites work on this computer I'd thought that it could be Telstra's broadband failing. But this computer works. It's not the DSE router, cos this computer works. Seems it must be something that is only on the affected computer. I'll have another go at turning Norton off - even when you turn "Auto-protect" off it's still running, so I might do a bit of Ctrl-Alt-Deleting.

Atreides

[ninja]

Check hosts file. Read through a few pages as this problem has been brought up a few times in the last few days.

[Atreides]

Hosts....file? What is hosts... file?

Nah, I've heard of it, but never used it. Where is it? And what kind of pie should I feed it to make it like me?

[FoxyMX]

You can find your Hosts file in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

Drag the file into Notepad (or "Open With" Notepad) and remove all entries below this line:

127.0.0.1 localhost

Save the file but ensure that you use the drop-down box in Save As Type and choose All Files otherwise it will add a .txt extension. The Hosts file does not have an extension.

Let us know how you get on.

[ninja]

Start --> Search --> Hosts

Post the contents of the file.

[Atreides]

Yeap, in hosts there were hundreds of 127.0.0.1 addresses stuck in by Spybot S&D (there was a comment that said so).

So while having those adservers blocked is in theory a good idea, saving bandwidth, it was obviously causing trouble with reaching some sites. I removed all of Spybot's stuff (after backing it up, of course) and now the sites which I previously could not reach work fine.

Thanks for your help.

[FoxyMX]

What you could have done is found out the addresses of the sites preventing your web access and deleted just those entries from your Hosts file.

[Atreides]

That's true, and I may still do that - I didn't entirely delete all the blocked entries. Just copied the hosts file and cleared one of 'em out. ad.doubleclick.net has to be allowed, and so does at least one more. PCWorld.co.nz uses ad.doubleclick.net for something....

I installed Windows 98 SE on a craptacular old computer my brother recently got. It's so old it struggles to run 98. Really. It's like running XP on a 400MHz. I'm not sure quite how slow it actually is, but it's slow. I reformatted C before installing 98 - the computer had an original install of 95 on it so I figured it would probably be best to start from clean.

Isn't it just FUN typing "format c:" at a command line?!

We'd been trying to set up networking (for broadband internet) on the thing while it was still in 95-land. Bought a network card and stuck it in, but couldn't get the thing to go. 10 minutes after 98 finishes installing, everything's sweet. 95 is just baaad. They might look the same, but 95 is useless.

Anyway, none of this is a problem, I just thought I'd say it. The computer goes fine. My computer goes fine. All the computers go fine!

*********************

...well actually... has anyone else had trouble accessing Gmail in Firefox recently? It works in IE but Firefox gives the error in a dialog box:
"The file /gmail?view=page&name=js&ver=7329c7a0c16cfe06 cannot be found. Please check the location and try again." It's been doing that on my computer since yesterday morning.

*********************

[PaulD]

Did the ads.doubleclick entry in your hosts file come from Spybot S&D? AFAIK I have the Spybot entries and that isn't one of them.

[Atreides]

I'm not entirely sure what ordering method Spybot used, but do a Find in the hosts file for "ad.doubleclick.net". It's way down below other doubleclick.net entries. Though, if you can access this site, it probably isn't there.

It was definitely part of the Spybot S&D files because it was in the section with the Spybot comments, and also it was simply in the middle of the Spybot list. Different version maybe?

[tweak'e]

sounds like you have got a third party hosts file (heaps around on the net).

you can quite saftly block doubleclick (no problem here with it). however i have noticed some sites getting cunning and have the page setup so if the adds don't load the rest of the page won't either.

any chance you can post your host file list ??

[Atreides]

This problem is actually solved, thanks anyway though.

As I said above, in my hosts file there were hundred of entries added by Spybot Search & Destroy. They are adservers, and Spybot has set them to the local machine to stop them from loading ads. Good idea in theory, but it caused some sites to be unable to load altogether. I have removed the entries that were causing problems, and left the rest so that they can continue to block ads.

I cannot block ad.doubleclick.net because some sites, including pcworld.co.nz and pressf1, need it to load. Look in the status bar as the page loads - ad.doubleclick.net is there for a second.

[PaulD]

If you remove the entries from within Spybot and reinsert them do the Doubleclick lines return? I have the current Spybot and it doesn't block any Doubleclick related sites.

[Atreides]

Does it block any sites at all? Cos on another computer I have Spybot S&D and it hasn't modified the hosts file. I do remember setting that option ages ago on the computer that did get changed, thinking about it now. It's not the Immunize option... must be somewhere else.

[PaulD]

Tools

[tweak'e]

its certainly odd. i've had doubleclick sites blocked for years and there has never been a problem with pcworld or any other site because of it. that makes me wonder what other problem you may have that has gone unnoticed.

[Atreides]

Have you actually got "ad.doubleclick.net" in your hosts file? There are other "...doubleclick.net" address which blocking doesn't cause problems with. I have other ad-blocking things which work fine (like the one built into Firefox) - it's only the hosts one that killed the sites. And simply removing that one line from the hosts file fixes it, so... I think that that is causing it.

I have Spybot S&D 1.3, Ad-aware SE, Norton SystemWorks 2004, ZoneAlarm... all clean.

[tweak'e]

sure have.

# Doubleclick (Netgravity)

127.0.0.1 ad.ae.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ar.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.at.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.au.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.au.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.be.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.be.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.br.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.bs.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ca.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.ca.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad.ca.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ch.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.ch.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.cl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.cn.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.co.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.cz.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.de.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.de.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.dk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.de
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.eg.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.es.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fi.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.fr.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.fr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.gr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.gt.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.hk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.hu.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.id.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ie.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.il.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.in.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.is.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.it.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.jp.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.jp.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.jpln.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.kr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.kw.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ma.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.mx.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.my.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.my.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.nl.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.nl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.no.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.no.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.nz.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.pe.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ph.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.pl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.pt.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ro.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ru.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.sa.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.se.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.se.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.sg.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.sg.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.th.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.tr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.us.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.ve.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad.za.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad0.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad1.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad1.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad10.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad11.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad12.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad13.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad14.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad15.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad16.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad17.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad18.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad19.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad2.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad2.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad20.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad3.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad3.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad3.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad4.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad4.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad4.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad5.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad5.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad5.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad6.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad6.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad6.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad7.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad7.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad7.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad8.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad8.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad8.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ad9.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ad9.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ad9.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 adlex-vip1.dclk.net
127.0.0.1 adlex-vip2.dclk.net
127.0.0.1 ads.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 au1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 br1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 cn1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 dart.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 de1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 demo.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.de
127.0.0.1 doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 dyson.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 enterprise.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 exnjadgda1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 exnjadgda2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 exnjadgds1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 exnjmdgda1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 exnjmdgds1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 fr1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ftp.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 gatekeeper.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 gd1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd15.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd20.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd25.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd27.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd28.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd29.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd30.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd31.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd4.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd5.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd7.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd8.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 gd9.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 hk1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 home.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 iv.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 jp1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 kr1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 listserver.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 ln.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 ln.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 ln.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 lon-router.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 london.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 lucian.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 m.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 m.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 m.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 m.us.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 m1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 m2.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 m2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 MAILEXODUS.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 md1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 mdist.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 media-test.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 mobileproxy-vip.us.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 mobileproxy-vip1.us.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 mobileproxy-vip2.us.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 mplex-dfa.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 myhome.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-10.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-3.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-4.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-5.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-6.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-7.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-8.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-207-9.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-10.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-3.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-4.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-5.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-6.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-7.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-199-95-208-8.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-10.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-3.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-4.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-5.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-6.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-7.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-8.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 network-209-67-38-9.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ng-webserver.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 ns.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ns1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ns2.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 ny.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 phase2media.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 pptp-server.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 rd.au.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.br.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.cn.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.de.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.fr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.hk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.intl.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.jp.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.kr.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.se.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.sg.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.terra.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.tw.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rd.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 rdbox.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 resolver.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 se1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 sg1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 SITEPAGES.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 sold.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 suitespot.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 support.netgravity.com
127.0.0.1 uk1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 uunyadgda1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 uunyadgds1.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 wapadserver-vip.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 www.ad.au.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.be.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.ca.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.ch.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.de.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.fr.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.jp.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.my.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.nl.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.no.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.se.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.sg.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad.uk.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad0.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad1.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad10.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad11.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad12.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad13.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad14.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad15.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad16.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad17.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad18.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad19.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad2.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad20.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad3.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad4.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad5.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad6.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad7.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad8.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ad9.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.ads.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.com
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.de
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 www.doubleclick.nl
127.0.0.1 www.ln.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.m.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.m2.doubleclick.be
127.0.0.1 www.netgravity.com

[PaulD]

From this post on the Spybot forum (http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=26468&hl=host+fil) I suspect that your hosts file was somehow not the standard Spybot one.

[Atreides]

Hmm. Yes. I suppose that, given how common blocking ad.douleclick.net is, maybe something else is happening.... though on the other hand, how many of those people have tried to access pcworld.co.nz... no, I suppose that isn't terribly significant, there must be thousands of sites using ad.doubleclick.net.
:confused:

Well, I just don't know. Sites didn't work before, I remove ad.doubleclick.net from the hosts, and the sites do work. I'm happy.

Right?

Think that the fact that I have TelstraClear Paradise broadband is of any significance to this? And Tweak'e, do you have Windows XP?

You reckon I should do anything else? Problem solved?

[tweak'e]

i use good old 98SE :)

telstra broadband shouldn't have anything to do with it.

[FoxyMX]

I have Win XP Home, use a Hosts file with doubleclick blocked the same as tweak'e and I have no problems accessing sites with all three of my browsers.

Things that I would try:

Clean out all your temporary internet, temporary and index.dat files. Ccleaner is a good program to do this for you.

Clean out the quarantine/backups or whatever in Spybot and Adaware.

Reset your firewall (ZoneAlarm?) back to defaults so that it asks you what to allow and disallow.

Put the doubleclick entries back in your Hosts file and see what happens. If you are still unable to access websites I would suggest you then uninstall Spybot to see if that changes anything.

[Atreides]

I'm using my second computer - old 600MHz (still with XP though).

It has not had the hosts file changed by Spybot S&D, though Spybot, Ad-aware and ZoneAlarm are installed.

I added ad.doubleclick.net to the hosts file, and voila, pcworld doesn't work. Remove it again, it works.

I have run CCleaner on this computer. I have cleared Spybot's backup files. Still doesn't work. I'll try resetting ZoneAlarm tomorrow.

When you load PressF1 in Firefox, do you see "Waiting for ad.doubleclick.net..." and "Transferring data from ad.doubleclick.net" in the status bar (bottom-left) at all?

[PaulD]

Spybot doesn't alter your hosts file unless you specifically invoke it and I'm not convinced that that is where your entry came from. Do you have Adblock running in Firefox? That will block the ads using a different list to your hosts file. I can open the PCWorld etc sites with ads using IE with the Spybot hosts file active or without ads using FF and Adblock. Neither show waiting for anything other than the main site URL.

[Atreides]

The list of blocked entries definitely came from Spybot because at the top and bottom of the list it had comments (#) saying that it was inserted by Spybot S&D. I did specifically invoke Spybot to block those servers. I had forgotten, and I was not familiar with the hosts file at any rate. I do have Firefox blocking ads, but with ad.doubleclick.net in the hosts file IE won't access the particular sites either.

Of course your browser won't say it's waiting for ad.doubleclick.net if you have the server as local in the hosts file (if it works). But if you take it out of the hosts file (just comment the line with # temporarily) then do you see the browser wait for and transfer from ad.doubleclick.net?

I really don't see what is going on. I'll see if this sort of stuff happens on Dad's computer next time I see him - he's currently off in India at a conference. For Massey. For a month.

This computer (my slow one) currently doesn't have antivirus. ( :eek: I know, but I had an old version of Norton which died a month ago, and the trial of Norton Antivirus 2005 I got off a PC World CD crushed my computer a bit. Any recommendations for free antivirus for a slow PC? Maybe AVG? I had Avast Antivirus on this computer before the old Norton a while back, but it was a bit crappy.)

Is it really still a problem? I can survive unblocking 2 or 3 ad servers out of a list of hundreds, can't I? None of them would be blocked at all normally anyway.

Though I don't seee any ads on PressF1. So what's ad.doubleclick.net actually doing? Any PressF1-administrator sorts of people want to let me in on this one?

I dunno. Tomorrow I'll try resetting and/or turning off ZoneAlarm, and turning off Spybot's memory resident blocker. Though that should only be blocking certain processes from running.

[tweak'e]

i'm not to sure whats with your setup.
normally when the program tries to access doubleclick it gets the 127.0.0.1 ip addy which of course is your own pc, its can't find the site and displays an error message and continues with the rest of the page. i use opera which dosn't display any error message. i know some netscape vers throw up an error message which you had to click to get rid of before it would download the rest of the page.

it kinda feals like there is a server sitting on 127.0.0.1.

when did all this start? any new software installed around the same time?

BTW doubleclick supply the adds you see on pcworld (andother sites).

[Atreides]

Nah, it's been having trouble with ad.doubleclick.net stopping sites for ages. maybe a year.. maybe more, maybe less. I didn't connect it with Spybot or the hosts file till a couple of days ago thanks to PressF1 (see above). If ad.doubleclick.net is in the hosts file I don't get any error messages - it just sits there "Waiting for ad.doubleclick.net". In Firefox. In IE it sits just "Waiting..."

I've no idea what other software I might have installed a year ago. An awful lot most likely! :rolleyes: Certainly there's been a lot in- and uninstalled since then.