Internet Explorer will open www.ibm.com but not www.google.com???????

First, lets try the Security Zone in IE..   Tools > Internet Options > Security tab..   Custom Level button, and try reducing the security level to medium, then to medium low.  Try to access the sites now...  

If you still cannot get to the sites, I would ck your system for spyware...  I use both Spybot AND Ad-aware to kill spyware on my systems...

What is spyware : http://www.spychecker.com/spyware.html

SpyBot-S&D : http://www.webattack.com/download/dlspybot.shtml 

Ad-aware : http://www.webattack.com/download/dladaware.shtml 

Another thing we can ck is your Host file..  

What is the Hosts file?  :

http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

It is located here:    c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

You can open it with notepad to view it...   There should be quite a few lines Rem'd out, but the only line without the # should be localhost  1270.0.1

Let me know if any of these helps you..

FE

BTW:  If you are connecting directly to the ADSL modem, and if that specific modem does not have a built-in firewall (SPI), then please think about either putting a router (like Linksys) between your modem and your computer, or installing a firewall on your computer like ZoneAlarm..   I much prefer the router, as it insulates your internal Lan from the internet using NAT.  These run under $50 right now, so there is little excuse not to install one.

Might also want to check your hosts file:

c:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Open this file with notepad.

If you see any entries like:

0.0.0.0     www.google.com

or

127.0.0.1     www.yahoo.com

simply delete those lines.

IE looks to your hosts file before it looks to a DNS server to match a domain name to an IP address.  Certain viruses/worms these days like to put fake entries in the hosts file so you can't access certain sites.

Also, if you do find entries like these in your hosts file, be sure to run a virus scan on your computer.

John...   I think I mentioned the Host file in my post..  Along with links on how to modify and use it...

FE

And FYI:   in W2K, the System Folder is specified in the default configuration as "winnt", not "windows"

Sorry about that, Fatal_Exception.  When I first looked at your post, I saw the Adaware and Spybot links, and thought it was another one of those generic copy and paste answers.  So, my fault for not reading the whole thing.

Scottyboy, please do not give any points to me on this one, as everything I said was previously stated by Fatal_Exception.

Really, that is not the issue (the points)..  Just after you have been here for a while, it sometimes gets a little tedious when other people post the same answer as you do.  But most won't even recognise that it happened and apologise, unlike you just did.    

And in some of these threads, 3 or 4 experts will post at the same time.. the same answer..   Everyone gets a laugh at that..  

Also, if you go into the Lounge, you will probably see it being discussed at least once a month..  

Other than that, I want to welcome you to the site, and look forward to working with you on many more of these problems..  

FE

unlike...??  meant "like you just did"...  must be getting late here, and I really need to put away this keyboard, eh..??

Try going out to Dos and simply pinging www.yahoo.com  see if gives you a reply and the IP address.  could possibly be a DNS error.  

Thats my two bits since everyone else has covered all the other angles.

Glad you got it..  You can go to Community Support and ask for a refund..

FE