Oops! This link appears to be broken

As mentioned above, it seems to be a problem with the Google toolbar. Nevertheless, Google Toolbar usually does not behave this way but there is a malware that is called googletoolbar.exe.

I would uninstall the Google toolbar.

Then:

Go to this website and download these programs:
MalwareBytes Anti Malware.... http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
and/or SuperAntiSpyware http://www.superantispyware.com/

Make sure you update to the latest versions.

If the problem persists...go to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix and follow the instructions.

You may need to rename MalwareBytes, Combofix or other tools before saving their files to the desktop as Malware can recognize the name and block them unless renamed.

Lastly ... reinstall the Google Toolbar if you like it.... I like it.

Mr_Fulano--If you get rid of Google Toolbar as BillDL suggests, you can still make Google your Search Engine.
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=87

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay, but I was testing different options...

I tried Bill's suggestion regarding Google (which BTW, I do need) but that didn't solve the problem.

I then thought it might be DNS related and tried http://65.55.12.249, but that didn't do the trick either.

I then tried to access Microsoft from a different computer on the same network and that worked. So, it's definitely my computer that is blocking the site and its not the Google toolbar.

I'm going to have to dig through the Firewall settings and see if I have anything that would cause MS to either time out or be blocked all together.

If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks,
Fulano

Ok.... then lets hit it with all you've got:

1. I assume that you've already done the scans suggested above.

2. Check your hosts file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc

3. Reset your winsock by issuing the following command from the command prompt:

netsh winsock reset                (it will reset your internet protocol - TCP/IP)

4. Disable your firewall temporarily (I doubt that we will find anything but just to get it out of the way - I've seen people configure all kinds of things in their firewalls).

5. Uninstall IE7 and reinstall it - Even better if you reinstall IE8. (just to avoid anything interfering with your installation, go to msconfig and in the services tab, click on hide Microsoft services, then disable the remaining services. Also disable everything in the startup tab. After installing you can re-enable everything again).

6. Touch base and let us know how it goes.

Hi BitsBytesand&, thanks for all the suggestions. I'm going to have to wait on all those changes until next month. I can't afford the down time right now in case something goes wrong. What I am going to do this weekend is install another browser other than IE7 and see if that helps.

It's really strange that this issue is only related to Microsoft sites (non other) so it has to be something that my browser is blocking as soon as it sees anything in the MS domain.

I'm going to leave this question open for a few days and see if I can bring you back some feedback, but I do want to award the points, so I'll close it out as soon as possible.

Thanks,
Fulano

It seems that you might have an entry in the hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc that could be redirecting all attempts to reach microsoft.com.....this would suggest that at some point you had a malware.......and after you removed it......left the host file damaged.

Hi BitsBytesand, your comment peaked my curiosity and I took a look using Quick View Plus, but it all seems rather normal. I have 5 files all with last modified dates of 8/4/2004 at 6 AM. The files are listed below, but I don't see anything that would redirect my MS connections.

hosts
lmhosts.sam
networks
protocol
services

Any more suggestions that might come to mind?

Thanks,
Fulano

Mr_Fulano--If you have an entry in the HOSTS file (which can be opened in Notepad) that reads
127.0.0.1       microsoft.com    (or www.microsoft.com)
that would block entry to microsoft.com.

Thanks jcimarron, this is exactly what I am suspecting and why I asked him to check the hosts file.

Mr_Fulano ..... would you pls attach your hosts file so we can take a look at it? I know you checked it but I have seem malware put an entry way down in the file to avoid it being seen and if you just take a quick glance at it at don't scroll down..... you will miss it.

Hi Gentlemen,

Below is my host file:
=====================================================
# 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

======================================================

Here's an update...

I installed Mozilla Firefox and that did not solve the problem. When trying to access MS, Firefox states that the connection has times out.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Fulano

Try disabling your firewall temporarily. See if you can connect. If so, we need to review which of your settings is blocking you.

I'm sorry...I just noticed that we did try disabling the firewall before....Ignore the last suggestion.

Are you by any chance going out through a proxy server? If so ....go to the LAN Settings and configure IE to not use the proxy server...

BitsBytesandMore--Sorry for seeming to repeat your suggestion, but I was not sure if "checking" the HOSTS file was enough info to help Mr. Fulano.

jcimarron: I didn't take it bad.....this is why I thanked you. I took it as if we were working as a team....you complementing what I had said, expanding on it and supporting it.

Sometimes it's very hard to give advise because you never now the technical level of the asker....just yesterday....someone was having a problem with a laptop's keyboard. One of the experts told him he needed to replace the keyboard (it was the right advice), the asker replied asking if this was very hard to do? Before the expert had a chance or I (since I jumped in immediately on the thread) to tell him how to do it...the asker had pulled the ribbon cable and had broken off the retaining clip.....Take a look at the thread:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Laptops_Notebooks/PC_Laptops/Q_24751799.html

My point is.....I try to go in slowly.....one step at the time until I get the feeling of what kind of knowledge the asker has...... I hinted a problem with the hosts file, told him it might be blocking Microsoft but was waiting for him to give me some feedback.....you helped me out expanding on it..... teamwork...thanks again!!!

BitsBytesandMore--Absolutely no offense taken.  Yes, we are trying in a team effort to help Mr_Fulano.  But, no doubt,  you had the original concept of the solution.

Mr_Fulano,

Back to the issue is now becomes more interesting by the minute, did you run the command above? :

netsh winsock reset

Hi Guys, sorry for the delay...today was a long day at work :|

First and foremost, thank you all for your help! You guys are working like a super great team in this effort, and I appreciate it. -- This is actually getting very interesting.

Secondly, I have a rather good grasp of the computer arena, but as I've learned over the years...there are no experts in this field, only people that continuouly accumulate knowledge little by little. - I'm definetly no expert, but rather just someone that has had some training in areas that are more techinical than the average person.

OK, lets recap:

1). The ONLY, ONLY, ONLY sites that I cannot reach is the Microsoft domain (ww.microsoft.com, www.msdn.com, etc). All other sites that I try work.

2). Everthing else is working fine on my PC.

3). Yes, I need Google's Toolbar, but I did disable it to test and it was negative.

4). I check the hosts file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc and posted it.

5). I reset my winsock by issuing the following command from the command prompt: netsh winsock reset    -- This also proved negative.

6). I did disable my firewall temporarily for 15 minutes and still could not connect.

7). I insatlled Mozilla Firefox and it was not able to connect, although it will not go to a Google "Opps" page, it simply times out. (I assume, because the Google Toolbar is not installed as a plug in on Firefox.

8). I do not connect through a proxy.

9). Other boxes on my network can connect without any probelms to the Microsoft domains.

10). I have not reinstalled IE7, but after installing Firefox and getting the same behavior, I'm not sure I need to do a reinstall. (Your tgoughts)

If I missed something, please let me know.

Fulano

Not sure if this error message will help, but this is the Firefox error message:
========================================================
The connection has timed out
The server at www.msdn.com is taking too long to respond.
    *   The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few
          moments.
    *   If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network
          connection.
    *   If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure
          that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.
========================================================

It looks like an inbound problem. It seems to be issuing the outbound request and waiting for a reply that never comes...

Maybe that can shed some light on this?

OK, here's some progress:

If I try to navigate to (www.microsoft.com), it will timeout. - We knew that!

However, if I try to navigate to (http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx), it will bring up the Microsoft web site on both IE7 and Firefox.

So, what is really going on? I don't think its my ISP, because other boxes on my network will access Microsoft by just using (www.microsoft.com), but mine cannot...

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Fulano

Spoke too soon...it will only connect if I go through Google first. Then it connect every time. However, once I close the browsers and wait a couple of minutes, it goes back to not being able to connect...WOW, this is really puzzling!!!

On more thing..... if you create a NEW profile on your computer.... I could probably work, especially if we are dealing with something that is corrupt and has no real known repair.

NEW USER profile.....

Hi All,

OK, we may have some progress, but we still don't know why...

I tried the steps that BitsBytesandMore suggested, but that didn't work:
1). MY takes me to my.com, not microsoft.com
2). The following steps didn't produce positive results:
      a. Go to your command prompt and type msconfig.
      b. On the services tab select "hide all microsoft services"
      c. On the startup tab "disable all items"
      d. Reboot and log into the local machine.
3). I created a new user and gave it Admin rights. That also failed to give me access to Microsoft.com

However, this below worked for MSDN.com, but not for Microsoft.com.
1). I tried to gain access to (www.msdn.com) and that failed.
2). I then tried to gain access to (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx) and that worked...I then bookmarked it and am able to get to MSDN using the bookmark over and over again without fail.
3). However, the solution in step 2 did not work for (www.microsoft.com) and (http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx). That still fails.

So, we have 50% success, but we're still not exactly sure why, other than DNS is not resolving correctly.

I don't think this is a User issue and I don't think its an ISP issue. I think its something on this box that is blocking ONLY Microsoft.com.

Any suggestions.
Fulano

Any suggestions.

This is so funny..... I was meaning "MY BROWSER" ....lol...not to type MY..

Try another thing:

Search your registry (DO NOT MODIFY ANYTHING): www.microsoft.com

Use the following program to search (it's free and safe-no adware): http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

Review the results .... you are looking for something like 127.0.0.1 related to microsoft.com.... If you find anything...post it....don't change it unless you know exactly what you're doing!!!

Lastly.... and really .... the fact that the bookmark seems to work...I really think you need to uninstall / reinstall IE7 or upgrade to IE8.... I truly believe the problem is there...

Going back to the misunderstanding about typing "MY" into the browser.  At first I too wondered what was being asked until I realised, but nevertheless did enter the word MY into the address bar, ie. nothing else except MY, out of curiosity.  It is immediately converted to:

http://my/

and I get a "page cannot be displayed", obviously.

That immediately reminds me of something I was trying to establish in another question.  I was getting muddled up and for some reason thought I had asked the same question here.  The point I was trying to establish is whether the http:// prefix is automatically prepended to whatever is entered into the address bar, and whether the Internet Options > Advanced tab > "Search from the address bar" is enabled.

I keep seeing mention in the responses in this question that:
www.microsoft.com
is not reachable, but that:
http://www.microsoft.com/whatever
IS reachable.

There is a difference, and it's the http:// prefix.

So, my question is: what happens if the word   MY    on its own is entered into the address bar and the Enter key is pressed?  Does it prepend http://  ?

My suggestion, in keeping with BitsBytesandMore's processes of elimination, is to set "Search from the Address Bar" to "Don't search from the address bar".

Of course, this doesn't explain why firefox would be experiencing the same types of issues, but there is a possible explanation.  Depending on when you installed firefox, it MAY have imported some bad settings.

Could you please export the registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL
to a *.reg file, rename it as a *.txt file, and attach it, or just open in Notepad and copy > paste into a code snippet for comparison with mine below.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL]
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\DefaultPrefix]
@="http://"
 
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\Prefixes]
"ftp"="ftp://"
"gopher"="gopher://"
"home"="http://"
"mosaic"="http://"
"www"="http://"

                                              

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Mr. Fulano,

What I was trying to say above is (let's leave the word my out of this before we get more confused) ....when anyone types into the IE address bar www.microsoft.com , normally, he would get REDIRECTED automatically to http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx .

This seems to not happen for you (even when you are using the IP address of Microsoft so DNS is ruled out).

Reasons why it will not happen would be a virus, spyware, proxy server, a host file entry, damaged TCP/IP protocol or a corrupt browser.

This makes me believe and insist, that if you have tried all the advice above, that you have a corrupt setting that is not allowing you to be redirected automatically as you should normally. I know it's a redirection problem because when you type in www.microsoft.com/anything it works, so you are not being blocked.

I don't know if you have uninstalled and reinstalled IE7 or upgraded to IE8 but if you haven't you should. We have already confirmed that your hosts file is 100% original, you did reset your TCP\IP protocol, you don't have a proxy setting, you don't have a virus or a spyware so the only thing that comes to mind to justify what is happening is a corrupt registry key or setting.............I would love to find out if it is something else.

One last question to Analise: are you using IIS?

Forgot to mention above: on more reason could be that your computer is not accepting cookies from the microsoft.com website. Make sure it accepts them.

All this time I have assumed (but never asked) that when you checked for viruses and malware, you had previously cleared your temporary internet files and cookies....Am I correct? Have you disabled or blocked cookies required by the microsoft.com site?

Hi BillDL,

Below is the registry entry you requested. It looks a lot, if not the same as yours.

Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL
Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time:   8/10/2004 - 9:02 PM
 
Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\DefaultPrefix
Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time:   8/10/2004 - 9:02 PM
Value 0
  Name:            <NO NAME>
  Type:            REG_SZ
  Data:            http://
 
 
Key Name:          HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\Prefixes
Class Name:        <NO CLASS>
Last Write Time:   8/10/2004 - 9:02 PM
Value 0
  Name:            ftp
  Type:            REG_SZ
  Data:            ftp://
 
Value 1
  Name:            gopher
  Type:            REG_SZ
  Data:            gopher://
 
Value 2
  Name:            home
  Type:            REG_SZ
  Data:            http://
 
Value 3
  Name:            mosaic
  Type:            REG_SZ
  Data:            http://
 
Value 4
  Name:            www
  Type:            REG_SZ
  Data:            http://
                                              

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Thanks Mr_Fulano.  That's normal, and so is elimitated.
Concentrate on BitsBytesandMore's 5 last comments for now.

Mr. Fulano--Outside chance.
Put www.microsoft.com and www.msdn.com into your Trusted Sites.  

Hi jcimarron, I put both of them into the Trusted sites list, but still cannot connect to Microsoft.com

I may just have to get rid of IE7 and install IE8. As much as I'd like to troubleshoot this and not let it beat me, I think the time it will take is not worth it.

I'll let this stay open for a day or two more and then I'll install IE8 and see what that does.

Thanks,
Fulano