From: Jeff Strickland on
I have a machine on the bench that can go online to any address I can dream
up, except it will not go to Microsoft.com. It won't go to any of the MSoft
sites. I'm trying to get the latest updates (XP SP3) using a high speed
connection, the machine normally uses dial-up.

It's not an Internet issue because I can go to Yahoo!, MSN, Google, Adobe
(where I downloaded Reader 9) and lots of other places. The only place the
machine will not let me go is MSoft. It does not care if I'm using IE or
FireFox, or Chrome, or any other browser. I was getting a screen that
indicated the machine was attempting a Dial-up, but now that I've removed
the dial-up service, all I'm getting is an error, PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED,
with a series of things to check in Internet Options.

I can't find any settings in Internet Options that would let the machine
connect to all of the sites I can dream up, but not connect to
support.microsoft.com, or any other microsoft.com page.

What's keeping me from going to MSoft pages? The site works because I can
get to it from other machines.

I'm running XP Home, SP2, IE6, FireFox 3.5, Chrome, and Safari. The message
is always, Sorry <browser> can't find Microsoft.com.


From: Paul on
Jeff Strickland wrote:
> I have a machine on the bench that can go online to any address I can dream
> up, except it will not go to Microsoft.com. It won't go to any of the MSoft
> sites. I'm trying to get the latest updates (XP SP3) using a high speed
> connection, the machine normally uses dial-up.
>
> It's not an Internet issue because I can go to Yahoo!, MSN, Google, Adobe
> (where I downloaded Reader 9) and lots of other places. The only place the
> machine will not let me go is MSoft. It does not care if I'm using IE or
> FireFox, or Chrome, or any other browser. I was getting a screen that
> indicated the machine was attempting a Dial-up, but now that I've removed
> the dial-up service, all I'm getting is an error, PAGE CANNOT BE DISPLAYED,
> with a series of things to check in Internet Options.
>
> I can't find any settings in Internet Options that would let the machine
> connect to all of the sites I can dream up, but not connect to
> support.microsoft.com, or any other microsoft.com page.
>
> What's keeping me from going to MSoft pages? The site works because I can
> get to it from other machines.
>
> I'm running XP Home, SP2, IE6, FireFox 3.5, Chrome, and Safari. The message
> is always, Sorry <browser> can't find Microsoft.com.
>

Is there a hosts file which is overriding DNS lookup ? Open the
"hosts" file in this directory with Notepad, for example.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

The only active entry I have in there right now is:

127.0.0.1 localhost

Try things like "nslookup www.microsoft.com" and "ping xx.xx.xx.xx"
where the xx thing is the IP address you get from the nslookup. There
could be some kind of DNS problem or hijacking going on. Not all sites
respond to ping, as they have ICMP turned off (for security reasons).
That makes it tough to do simple tests from a command window.
Open a command window first, then type that command at the prompt.

nslookup www.microsoft.com

Now, when I try that here, the answer I get from the DNS server is:

Name: 1b1.www.ms.akadns.net
ADdress: 65.55.21.250
Aliases: www.microsoft.com, toggle.www.ms.akadns.net, g.www.ms.akadns.net

When I try to ping that address, I get no response, as I'd expect from
a big site.

(Ping uses "Echo Request", which is command number 8 in this list.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Control_Message_Protocol

When I run "Windows Update" from the WinXP menu, my packet sniffer
(Wireshark) shows the initial access going to windowsupdate.microsoft.nsatc.net ,
then www.update.microsoft.com.nsatc.net , a26.ms.akamai.net and so on.
Microsoft doesn't host all their own servers, instead relying on
big external hosts for anything which is going to be bandwidth
intensive. The first one of those addresses, doesn't respond to
ping either. Not surprising. So this method of testing, isn't getting
me anywhere. It is easier to test other sites that don't turn off
ICMP. Of course, your only problem is with Microsoft, so that doesn't
help at all.

If you want to check what a DNS server somewhere else, thinks about
a translation, you can use a site like this, to compare to your
nslookup test.

http://www.zoneedit.com/lookup.html

Another test you can try, is try to go to the "malwarebytes.org" site.
If your browsers "resist" going there, then you're infected.
It is common practice, for malware to prevent you from getting
a copy of their software.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malwarebytes

A lot of other AV sites may not be accessible either. So not getting
to Windows Update, is the tip of the iceburg. Windows Update would
give you a copy of the latest MSRT (Malicious Software Removal Tool),
which is one reason malware doesn't want you to get there. If you
get a copy of MSRT, the malware could be deleted, and they don't want
that to happen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Malicious_Software_Removal_Tool

I suppose there can be other reasons for not being able to get to
Windows Update, such as an elevated security setting on Internet
Explorer. But the other browsers, without ActiveX capability,
should be less picky about visiting common sites. Firefox actually
has a list of suspicious sites stored in it, and that can prevent
you from going to certain sites, but they also put up a dialog telling
you why you can't get there. I think that can also be turned off in
the preferences ("suspected attack site"). I doubt that has anything
to do with it.

Paul
From: - Bobb - on
I'm trying to get the latest updates (XP SP3) using a high speed connection,
======

If you're running old IE - the pointer for windowsupdate was changed.
I ran into same problem a while back.
It changed to 'microsoft update' not 'windows update'
Go to microsoft.com and find it manuallly



"Jeff Strickland" <crwlrjeff(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:hs9dcf$ajq$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>I have a machine on the bench that can go online to any address I can dream
>up, except it will not go to Microsoft.com. It won't go to any of the MSoft
>sites. I'm trying to get the latest updates (XP SP3) using a high speed
>connection, the machine normally uses dial-up.
>
> It's not an Internet issue because I can go to Yahoo!, MSN, Google, Adobe
> (where I downloaded Reader 9) and lots of other places. The only place the
> machine will not let me go is MSoft. It does not care if I'm using IE or
> FireFox, or Chrome, or any other browser. I was getting a screen that
> indicated the machine was attempting a Dial-up, but now that I've removed
> the dial-up service, all I'm getting is an error, PAGE CANNOT BE
> DISPLAYED, with a series of things to check in Internet Options.
>
> I can't find any settings in Internet Options that would let the machine
> connect to all of the sites I can dream up, but not connect to
> support.microsoft.com, or any other microsoft.com page.
>
> What's keeping me from going to MSoft pages? The site works because I can
> get to it from other machines.
>
> I'm running XP Home, SP2, IE6, FireFox 3.5, Chrome, and Safari. The
> message is always, Sorry <browser> can't find Microsoft.com.
>


From: Jeff Strickland on

"- Bobb -" <bobb(a)noemail.123> wrote in message
news:hsej9c$pvp$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
> I'm trying to get the latest updates (XP SP3) using a high speed
> connection,
> ======
>
> If you're running old IE - the pointer for windowsupdate was changed.
> I ran into same problem a while back.
> It changed to 'microsoft update' not 'windows update'
> Go to microsoft.com and find it manuallly
>

One of the virus enhancements that was loaded on the machine prevented
visits to microsoft.com. That's what the original post said was the problem.
Turns out, the original post was not entirely correct. I found that the
machine would not go to ANY Website where the site presented a threat to the
wellbeing of the virus that was nesting inside.

One of things that the virus does is block Websites that offer potential
solutions on getting rid of the virus.