Unlock Browser settings???

Yes on the McAfee.
No on the others.
I don't even know what they are.
If they can be downloaded, could you give me some addresses??

Thanks

 

Hi marchiafava,

Download site for Opera: http://www.opera.com/download/
Information on Firebird: http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/

Regards,

Pieter

 

Thanks,

I have installed Mozilla. When I do a search the first link that I selected returned a message "the connection was refused when attempting to contact ads.msn.com". Is there any way to see where ads.msn.com is blocked and unblock it. I have disabled McAfee and checked the blocked folder and it is empty.
This help is great please don't give up on me.

Thanks Again,
Rick Marchiafava

 

Hi machiafava,

Could you start Spybot S&D in advanced mode, then click Tools > Hosts file and see if you can find any line looking like this
127.0.0.1 ads.msn.com

Regards,

Pieter

 

Yes it is in the HOSTS FILE. What do I do?

 

Hi marchiafava,

You can open the hosts file in notepad and edit out that line there if you like, but you can also download http://members.shaw.ca/techcd/VB_Projects/HostsFileReader.exe
The program will allow you to easily edit out any unwanted entries.

Regards,

Pieter

 

I'm not exactly sure of what I did, BUT I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!, My web browser seems to be working fine!!!! Do you have any idea how "ads.msn.com" ended up in the hosts file What exactly is a host file.
I noticed that there was something about redirecting undesirable links back to my computer or something like that

There is some bad news - I think - all of the hosts were deleted Is that bad Any pointers or places to learn more would be great.

I thank everyone who tried to help. This is a great site and I will recommend it often.

Thanks again everyone.
Rick Marchiafava

 

Hi machifava,

There are several programs that make changes to your hosts file, so it is hard to tell where it came from or if it was bad you deleted everything.

For some great info on how the hosts file works: http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html

Regards,

Pieter