Why is my browser being misdirected?

The computer randomly blocks access to certain IP addresses on the internet, such as Microsoft.com or weather.com. In other cases, it misdirects me to a different webpage when I enter an address in the address bar, such as sending me to some company called Q net when I put in Mammothmountain.com. This happens with Internet Explorer 5.5, 6.0, Netscape and Outlook. I tried de installing and reinstalling IE, and I also upgraded from Windows ME to Windows XP professional to no avail. I also tried de-installing my Virus/Firewall software (Symantec) and it made no difference. Several IT people have looked at it and not figured out the problem.

Help!!!!

SB

This question was answered on January 21, 2003. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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Sounds like someone is hijacking your browser.

Qnet is simply a local Internet Provider.

First, see if your IE Content Advisor has been enabled That would explain some sites being blocked.

Download a copy of AdAware from Lavasoft.com or from Tucows.com Run it to see if there are any Spyware programs running on your PC Remove the suggested programs, as many of these utilities can cause problems, aside from potentially watching and reporting every move you make on the Internet.

Before installing any downloadable utilities from the Internet, do a Google search on the files in question Use the name of the program along with the word "Spyware" as your search criteria Where there is Spyware, there will be someone to alert us common users to PC parasites.

If that doesn't solve the problem, better reinstall your virus software; update it, then run a virus scan.

De-installing and reinstalling IE is the stuff federal cases are made of I’d de-install Netscape, first.

Outlook isn’t a browser, so I can’t figure out what is meant by this.

If you're on a network, a DNS server might be the problem Perhaps you should run a check on your network support personnel.

Something intelligent has to be misconfigured here Monkeys with typewriters don't produce encyclopedias, and random actions do not forward browsers to established websites.

RG

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Posted by Robert of Mesa Community College on January 21, 2003

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