cannot run google serach or access certain sites

[TTEL]

This is a strange one ... hope soemone can help?

Windows XP Pro - IE 6.0.2800.1106

Four user profiles on same machine.

Access from one profile to ALL sites no problem and also Google searches run fine.

However the other three user profiles exhibit the following problems ...

cannot run Google searches - when you click "search" nothing happens

certain web sites only come up with totall blank page (e.g.

http://hsbc.ca)

and "Done" in Explorer pane.

Any ideas on anything I can check?

I have looked at the firewall, security levels etc ...


Thanks

 

[je150]

Whats the age of the accounts? Is it working on the newest or the oldest? Have you ever ran any spyware programs ie (SpyBot Search and Destroy or Ad-Aware)? Have you tried clearing all browser cach, cookies, temporary internet files? Are there any sites you can access from the broken accounts? You may even want to check and see if there are any malicious programs installed (spybot and ad-aware check for some of these) and remove them. Thinks like MySearch search bar that appears as a toolbar in IE can be removed in Add/Remove Programs. If the computer is on a network can you access the network and transfer files.

If all else fails, download

http://www.mozilla.com

from the working account and try that on the other ones. Helps narrow down the problems. Most likely it could be an IE thing, maybe a profile driven problem though.

 

[TTEL]

Thanks for this.

I've checked all the usual stuff - spyware, virus, etc.
Ran Adawre and AVG and everything is clear.

I will look at startup programs to see if there is anything running that shouldn't be there.

The accounts were all created at the same time as each other including the one that is working OK.

Could it be a java issue?

Is there anything else you can suggest?


Thanks.

 

[crisc]

I don't think java has anything to do with sites such as Google not loading. If you type in google.com and it tries taking you to hsbc.sa, take a look at your HOSTS file and see if there's anything redirecting you.

Try typing

64.233.167.104

into your browser. This is an IP for Google, if it works, then something is redirecting the lookup.

 

[bcastner]

Check C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
Use notepad to check your HOSTS file.
It should look like:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

Note there is one blank line after the localhost entry.

 

[TTEL]

HOSTS file looks as you state.

This is driving me mad if anyone can think of anything else!


thanks

 

[wolfepak]

I am having a simular problem.
The google hijacked user was marked as a power user.
The non hijacked user is an admin.
on the hijacked user I ran CWShredder and removed Jksearch, (didn't show on the un hij.)
Ran Hijackthis from both accounts and cleaned up some crap.

Unistalled and re downloaded the google toolbar.

It happens searching on

http://www.google.com

or using the google toolbar.

Also, It is an IE thing as both firefox 0.9.2 or Opera do not have the problem.

WolfePak