Computer help forum: www.google.com or any other search engine wont load

So when you type in ping www.google.com it's going to a UK addy?

It's probably not getting to the internet to ping Google. Does the request time out?

Try this..

In the cmd window...

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

after that

ipconfig /flushdns

May need a restart, see if that helps.

is afflicted with certain malware it can show thoe symptoms you describe. The malware does this by altering the HOSTS file located in your %WinDir%\system32\drivers\etc directory (Folder).

You can easily access it and open it with any text editor and see if Google or Yahoo or other sites you can't access are listed in it - if they are simply remove the entire line containing the reference.

rename the %WinDir%\system32\drivers\etc\HOSTS file hosts.old then open the browser and see what happens.

What IP address do these variations point to? Maybe 87.125.87.99 google.com?

Thank You!!! I did a search in windows explorer, found the "hosts" file in the %WinDir%\system32\drivers\etc\ ( also known as C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc ). It is a hidden file so I had to enable view hidden folders in folder options. All I did was add .txt to the end so I could open it as a text file. It had google, bing, and a few other search engines on it. I deleted those few lines, saved the file, then removed the extension.

If I were there, I'd totally buy you a beer. Cheers!

haha we are a small company me and the boss share the IT stuff which is why i am spending so much time on it, do a clean install is an option however our till is set up on that computer i guess i could restore an old backup????

hi Bob

so i checked the ip on the other machines and here they are

72.14.213.103 on a mac
72.14.213.105 on a mac
72.14.213.104 on two windows machines

I have never used nslookup, i went to command and typed nslookup but t wont find anything so guess im doing it wrong?

It's worth noting that DNS HIJACKING and more is common with malware.

Grif writes about it weekly it seems.

PLEASE READ -> http://forums.cnet.com/7723-6122_102-311989.html#2880351

It's uncanny how close their problem is to yours.
Bob

You gave 1/2 the clue in your post above with the incorrect IP for google in your DNS reply. NSLOOKUP is what we use to find the other half of the clue.

Also, HIJACKTHIS is useful to see if something replaced your machine's DNS lookup mechanisms.

Bob

Run the program from the command prompt and type help to see the help contents listing all commands.

Kees

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html

I do suggest backing up and such before doing any more troubleshooting as long as you are sure there are no infections, although I have my doubts.

As Bob stated, HijackThis is more of something to interpret, not something that will pop up a window and say, "here I am". You have to know what to look for. Ironically I am using it on a computer right now with it's share of hijackings.