Is there a problem with Google?

[mizzy]

Hi there
In the past week or so whenever users on our network connect to the google web sites and then try to change to another web site they get a problem, they cannot change to another web site. They are stuck on Google. This only happens when we attach to google.

Nothing on our network has changed so I'm wondering if the google web site has changed and that I need to open a few new ports on my firewall.

Any help appreciated.
Regards,

 

[ctarr]

Why would you open more ports? All net traffic is over port 80.

Google is not going to start altering their site to work on a differnt port. That would screw up the entire internet.

I hope that you have a corporate virus package. This could be some sort of virus or trojan. Run a check on the PC's and also get a hold of Ad-Aware and a couple of the other spy/spam ware apps.

There are lots of trojans that will take control of your borwser and cause a lot of trouble. Perhaps someone downloaded one of these and it crawled over your network and has infected other PC's.

Craig

 

[mizzy]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for your reply.

Yes the port option does sound like I am grabbing at straws because I am grabbing at absolutley any straw.(On another completly unrelated issue I saw an SMTP problem solved by opening additional ports on a firewall)

Our servers are pretty much covered with AntiVirus software.
However I am also looking into this. I have a request in with Network Associates who as per normal are not falling over themselves to help solve the problem.

I am sure that the problem is our firewall/proxy because when I take the firewall/proxy out of the equation the problem goes away.

But I keep being lead back to google because this is the only web site where this problem occurs. What in tarnation is so special about google? What has changed with google in the past 7 days(when the problem first appeared)!?

Again thanks for your reply.

 

[carrr]

You can likely rest assured that the problem isn't with google, but with something on your end. The rest of us google users aren't having any problems of the sort you describe. If you haven't downloaded Adaware (

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/)

or SpyBot (

http://spybot.safer-networking.de/),

do so. This is the easiest first avenue as they can eliminate a host of possible sources. You can run this on a single machine and likely get an idea of what's residing on the rest. Post back with your results after you've done this...

 

[carrr]

Another option is to download and run BHODemon (Browser Helper Objects Demon):

http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm

This app scopes out and displays anything under the guise of a "Browser Helper" (that redirects, hijacks, etc.).

 

[ctarr]

Our network gets access through a state pipe and then directly to the backbone. In one instance our DNS had some invalid entries for some internal servers. So, our DNS went to the state and since they also had the incorrect values we were pushed to the internet. So we ended up with MSN search coming up since the server is not on any of the outside DNS servers.

I'd guess that if you take the proxy/firewall out of the equation and it works then you've probably got a bad number entered somewhere.

Why just google? If you have the time hit some usenet newsgroups to see if there is any chatter. I've used three different ISP in the last couple of days and never had a problem leaving google (my favorite engine).

HTH,

Craig

 

[mizzy]

Hi Craig,

I downloaded the ad-aware software and ran it on my system.
It came back with the following data.
I removed all the files but the problem persisted.
I am sure that this is a firewall/proxy problem. I may just re-install the firewall and see if that resolves the problem.

Why it only affects google I'll never know it should affect every search engine under the sun.

Thanks for your help and patience


ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 07-03-2003 14-28-47.bckp)
============================================

ALEXA
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
obj[0]=RegKey : SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa003c157a}

TRACKING COOKIE
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
obj[1]=File : c:\documents and settings\mizzy\cookies\mizzy@doubleclick[2].txt
obj[2]=File : c:\documents and settings\mizzy\cookies\mizzy@mediaplex[2].txt
obj[3]=File : c:\documents and settings\mizzy\cookies\mizzy@statse.webtrendslive[1].txt

 

[WheeDoggy]

ALEXA

SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Extensions\{c95fe080-8f5d-11d2-a20b-00aa003c157a}

Is NOT spyware.

It is only for MSN search in relation to "Show Related" under the Tools menu in IE. MSN uses Alexa to provide the search results.
<cfif IsStressed(objWheeDoggy)>
<!--- 10%/hour/each day --->
<cf_objWheeDoggy BloodPressure=&quot;340%&quot;>
</cfif>

 

[InnoTech]

wheedoggy, i was just gonna let you know that your signature isn't working. i've noticed it on a couple of posts lately. &quot;Jack of all trades. Master of none.&quot;

 

[ANFPS26]

Alexa IS spyware. I'd remove it with adaware. Jim

 

[WheeDoggy]

-ANFPS26

Perhaps my wording was incorrect.

I was making reference to the registry entry created by IE6.

This entry is only detected by spyware removers due to Alexa's reputation.

Maybe if you read the last line of my previous post, you would understand.

&quot;It is only for MSN search in relation to &quot;Show Related&quot; under the Tools menu in IE. MSN uses Alexa to provide the search results.&quot;


<cfif IsStressed(objWheeDoggy)>
<!--- 10%/hour/each day --->
<cf_objWheeDoggy BloodPressure=&quot;340%&quot;>
</cfif>

 

[ANFPS26]

Sorry, I thought you were saying Alexa wasn't spyware. I stand corrected. Jim

 

[mizzy]

Hi,

Thanks for your help.

I have removed ALEXA but the problem persists.
I have also rebuilt my firewall but the problem still exists.
I have checked with NAI but there does not seems to be any viruses which cause this problem.
NAI advised to check for W32/Revocer,JS/Fakehos and PWS-Tenbot but these do not seem to be on my systems.
I have removed every piece of new equipment added to the network since the problem began but the problem still persists.
I'm at the giving up stage, Google! who needs it!

 

[GFAlexander]

This may not be appropraite or relevantl, but have you flushed your DNS on your server?

If it's W2K or XP from the command prompt, type ipconfig/flushdns.

Might be worth doing on individual machines also.

Gary

 

[mizzy]

Many thanks for your help,

I have a caching only DNS server. All the entries are received from my ISP's DNS.
I think that the DNS gets cleared out every time I reboot the DNS server . Is this correct?
(This server has been rebooted many times as it is the same server as the firewall/proxy)

 

[gigahertz]

You might try deleting all cookies - you might have a corrupt one from Google ...

 

[mizzy]

Hi gigahertz,

This was one of the first things I did (delete cookies) but still have the problem.

(I have approx 100 users accessing the internet via this proxy and they all get the problem)

Many thanks,

 

[mike49099]

I have the same problem with 3 Sambar server installaions. It started suddenly and continues to this date. If you wait long enough and refresh it sometimes will actually give you the site you want.
It seems that if you used 'cached' content on googles results page and select a link from there that you can get away from being captured by google. I am looking at that further. Google has been unresponsive.

 

[skajik]

We experiencing this problem also. It is only happening on workstations that go through a proxy and it is only happening with Google.

 

[cdogg]

mizzy,
I'm assuming that since you deleted the cookies, you also deleted the cache off the proxy server, right?




~cdogg

&quot;The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.&quot;
- A. Einstein