Can't reach some websites?

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium with the latest updates. I have a strange problem. I can go to some websites, but not others. For example, I can load Find a Local Business, Ratings, Reviews, Deals | Angie's List, but not https://my.angieslist.com/angieslist/login.aspx. I have switched from automatic DNS lookup to fixed DNS, but that makes no difference. Any help would be much appreciated. Note: the same problem is experienced with Firefox, Opera, and IE. I called Angies List and they do not have any issues ie, they were able to log into my account.
Pete

You get any warnings? If you get the DNS warning, you should probably contact your Internet provider.

It may be either your firewall or antivirus blocking the connection, for some reason. I could reach Angie's, no problems. The easiest way to test it would be to turn off firewall and antivirus, and try to reach the page. If you reach it, it's either firewall or antivirus or the combination of them. Thus, turn on one of them, test the page... etc. IT IS SAFE TO RUMBLE ON THE NET FOR A FEW HOURS, DON'T WORRY.

If the problem is there, it can probably be corrected through settings. Please inform what firewall and antivirus you have, preferably with version too.

Originally Posted by Titanic

You get any warnings? If you get the DNS warning, you should probably contact your Internet provider. It may be either your firewall or antivirus blocking the connection, for some reason. I could reach Angie's, no problems. The easiest way to test it would be to turn off firewall and antivirus, and try to reach the page. If you reach it, it's either firewall or antivirus or the combination of them. Thus, turn on one of them, test the page... etc. IT IS SAFE TO RUMBLE ON THE NET FOR A FEW HOURS, DON'T WORRY. If the problem is there, it can probably be corrected through settings. Please inform what firewall and antivirus you have, preferably with version too.

Thanks for the response. I get no warnings. Firefox displays the message 'Connecting to xxx' where xxx is the URL of the site. That message displays continuously and the page never comes up. I tried turning off both antivirus (MS Security Essentials V4.0.1526.0) and firewall (Windows 7 updated). I then tested on two sites that don't work and they still don't work. BTW, I can go to Angie's List home page, but I can't bring up the log in page. I'm connected to the internet via a WiFi hotspot using Public network if that matters. I checked with the WiFi manager and he said no one else has complained of this issue. The WiFi here has worked without problems in the past; this issue has just started within the last week.
Pete

Norton has a feature to specifically block secure sites - do you have (or ever had) Norton on your pc? Is the problem limited to https sites. If so you could test access using port 443 (which is the default for https) by trying this address in your bowser:

https://www.microsoft.com:443

If that fails then it seems likely that your problem is related to https services or forwarding on port 443.

One aspect I managed to ignore totally was the issue of how long has this gone on, can you remember any certain point of time when it started and, if anything specific might have happened? Sometimes problems are related to something quite else than the problem seems to be. So please, try scratching your head in order to remember --- no offense here, as you certainly do understand.

Originally Posted by patcooke

Norton has a feature to specifically block secure sites - do you have (or ever had) Norton on your pc? Is the problem limited to https sites. If so you could test access using port 443 (which is the default for https) by trying this address in your bowser:

https://www.microsoft.com:443

If that fails then it seems likely that your problem is related to https services or forwarding on port 443.

Thanks. Nope, Norton has never been installed on this computer; only Security Essentials and Windows firewall. Here are three websites that exhibit the problem:

https://my.angieslist.com/angieslist/login.aspx
Dr. McDougall's Online Discussion Board • Index page
Yahoo!

and here are three that work fine:

Find a Local Business, Ratings, Reviews, Deals | Angie's List
CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News
National Hurricane Center

BTW, that link to microsoft works fine!
Pete

Originally Posted by Titanic

One aspect I managed to ignore totally was the issue of how long has this gone on, can you remember any certain point of time when it started and, if anything specific might have happened? Sometimes problems are related to something quite else than the problem seems to be. So please, try scratching your head in order to remember --- no offense here, as you certainly do understand.

Yes, very true. It started about a week ago. I just can't remember anything specific. One thing I could do is to restore my C:\ drive back to March 2012 since I have an image backup from that date made with Acronis True Image.
Pete

1. Do a thorough scan on your computer. Besides your own security programs, use an on-line scan too, and Malwarebytes.

2. What you could do is to restore your Windows back a week or two or so, Control Panel\System and Security\System\System Protection\System Restore. You should have some Restoration points, and they all show what programs are affected. Don't know how much this helps, though. I just looked at my own Restoration, it only had three points, all Windows updates.

3. You could check Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features, and uninstall any programs suspicious OR INSTALLED IN THE PAST, SAY, TWO WEEKS.

4. I had Denial of Service = DoS attacks twice, while active on YouTube. This could be something like that, in case you've expressed something... eh... dubious. People not only like and love each other, they do in fact hate each other. Not that I would want this to be the case.

Let's hope we get it figured out. Cheers.

Originally Posted by Titanic

1. Do a thorough scan on your computer. Besides your own security programs, use an on-line scan too, and Malwarebytes.

2. What you could do is to restore your Windows back a week or two or so, Control Panel\System and Security\System\System Protection\System Restore. You should have some Restoration points, and they all show what programs are affected. Don't know how much this helps, though. I just looked at my own Restoration, it only had three points, all Windows updates.

3. You could check Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Programs and Features, and uninstall any programs suspicious OR INSTALLED IN THE PAST, SAY, TWO WEEKS.

4. I had Denial of Service = DoS attacks twice, while active on YouTube. This could be something like that, in case you've expressed something... eh... dubious. People not only like and love each other, they do in fact hate each other. Not that I would want this to be the case.

Let's hope we get it figured out. Cheers.

Thanks. I've started a complete scan, but it will take awhile to complete. I have restore turned off. I rely totally on Acronis True Image to backup my C:\drive. I just did a restore from March 2012 and see the exact same behavior. That backup was long before this problem was seen so it would not seem to be a Windows 7 configuration issue. That denial of service sounds plausible, but I can't figure out why it would affect some seemingly unrelated websites and not others? The other thought I had was that my WiFi adapter is failing, but again I don't see why it would affect some, but not other sites. I should also mention that yesterday I took my laptop to Wendy's and I was able to connect to all of those websites. The next thing I plan to do is to ask someone else to try connecting at my present location with their laptop to see if they have the same problem.

Pete

Hi

It may be that the wireless source you are connecting to has some kind of security running that blocks these sites inadvertently as some kind of address it's programmed to defend against.

If you have a number of places you can connect to, try some of the others as you did at Wendy's.

If you can connect at other sites, that kind of narrows it down to, not your computer.

Having some one else try and connect to these sites, through your source is a good idea too.

This really doesn't sound to me like it's a configuration issue, since you can connect someplace.
It never hurts to run Malwarebytes, (as Titanic said) if it's a malware issue it should find it.

Make sure that your LAN setting are set to Automatic and not a specific setting.
Some malware likes to change this and Malwarebytes won't change it back.

Mike