help solve internet connectivity problem

[angelratgirl]

i have two computers on a home network. they are both hooked up to the same router thru ethernet cable. one computer (a dell dimension 8200 w/ XP pro) has no issues at all. the other (dell dimension 8400 w/ XP home) has developed a strange problem.

we use AOL for our ISP and then usually just browse on IE. the 8400 has decided that IE should not have access to certain sites. now i know you think immediately "her security settings are too high" but i assure you that that is not the problem, because no matter how low i put the settings, i cannot access certain sites. the main one i want access to is ebay but there are several other sites i cannot access in IE that should have no problem.

some of the sites i cannot access thru IE, i can access on aol's browser. i can look thru ebay on aol's browser but i cannot sign in. and yet the internet settings say i should be able to.

now when i do a tracert of several sites, the ones i can access start out like this:

1 32 ms 50 ms 35 ms ipt-rtcd02.dial.aol.com [152.163.5.98]
2 34 ms 35 ms 38 ms iptfarmd-rtc-ve3.proxy.aol.com [152.163.104.126]
3 37 ms 64 ms 52 ms wc4-rtc-ae3.router.aol.com [172.30.81.60]

but the ones i cannot access (like ebay) start out like this:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1

and then it times out

can a program be messing this up? (well, of course it can... duh) is there a registry key i could maybe look at to see if it was pointing somewhere wrong?

if you need more info, pleas ask. i want to fix this without formatting since i don't think it is a problem that warrents that drastic a measure.

[Autokad]

hmmm try running spyware programs anti-viris etc... to be sure it's not that?

[angelratgirl]

i just ran adaware and spybot and tho it found some stuff, it did not fix the problem.

[JimRune]

Friends of mine who use AOL tell me how much it sucks. This is one of those symptons where AOL wants to be the only way to access the web. For them, they're able to use it for some time before it just stops working for them. They can't use FireFox either.

I've tried to fix the problem on their computers but all I can come up with is that AOL is being a web hog.

[Bill in SD, CA]

Have you checked your HOSTS file to see if the sites somehow got added thus preventing access?


Use the HOSTS File to Block Web Sites


Bill in SD, CA

[JimRune]

Wow Bill, now that is a nice find.

Thanks.

[elroy]

I would also consider AOL is the culprit. I would advise you to close the AOL account, remove the AOL software [if possible] and run in the opposite direction as fast as you can.