Errors loading google and other websites look wrong.
I don't know if this is an issue with Firefox or if I have a virus or if it's Google.com. I can rarely do a Google search and I'm constantly being kicked out of Gmail. It brings up a screen that says "Server not found." Other websites work though, so it's not my internet connection. This almost exclusively happens with Google. Then, just today, other websites started loading like they were loading for a dial-up connection without graphics or anything. It makes me nervous that it's not the correct website because it looks nothing like it, so I don't sign in. This happened with Ebay, and a couple of other sites that require a login. I've run several virus/malware detection programs, but my system comes up clean. I've tried to update Firefox, but it says I'm running the latest version and don't need to update. Any advice would be helpful. If I change my Firewall to allow Firefox, will that allow anything to get in from Firefox, including viruses? Thank you!
All Replies (9)
Difficult to say. If sites down't appear like you expect them to, you might possibly have a rootkit installed called the "Google Redirect Virus" (nothing to do with Google of course). Have a look at this article and determine if you can see any similarities with your own situation: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-tdss-tdl3-alureon-rootkit-using-tdsskiller
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Thanks.
No. Thanks for the reply though. Google isn't redirecting me to other pages; it's just simply not working. It says "Server Not Found" yet all other websites work. It's just Google. I did a search to see if Google itself was having problems, but came up with nothing.
Can you give one of the links which result in the error message i.e. "Server not found"?
I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean by "one of the links." I can't get to www.google.com itself. However, I can use Bing or Yahoo or any other search engine just fine. Also, I'll be in the middle of typing a message in Gmail when it will loose the server, and I'll loose everything I hadn't saved yet. Does that help?
Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs.
You need to scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.
- http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
- http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Windows Defender: Home Page
- http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot Search & Destroy
- http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware Free
See also:
- "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
I suspect that the search value in your setup is invalid.
Could you please do the following.
- In the location bar where you normally type in a web address, type about:config and hit Enter.
- If you see a window which says "This might void your warranty!", click the button which says "I'll be careful, I promise" so you can continue with the next step.
- In the filter at the top, type: keyword.URL
- Double click it and remove whatever's in there and replace it with http://www.google.com/search?q= and then click OK.
- Close the tab
The URL to add in "keyword.URL" becomes a link in this post, so right click it and choose "Copy Link Location" to copy it to the Windows clipboard. Then hit CTRL+V to paste it. Saves you having to type the whole thing.
To reset your home page, do the following.
- Go to the site you want to set as your homepage.
- Click the Firefox button, go to Options | Options | General.
- Make sure it says "Show My Homepage" in the first dropdown menu.
- Click the button called "Use Current Pages" to set the homepage to the one you have on the screen.
If this step fixes the problem for you, please click the Solved it button next to this post after you log in into the forum. This will help others searching for a solution to the same subject.
Thanks.
Thanks for all the replies, but I think the problem is the newest version of Firefox. Talking to other people, I realized that I'm not the only one having this problem. Also, everyone's problems started a few months ago when they upgraded to the newest Firefox. Thank you!
Did you do a malware check with the programs that I listed above?
Did you check your security software (firewall)?
A possible cause is security software (firewall) that blocks or restricts Firefox or the plugin-container process without informing you, possibly after detecting changes (update) to the Firefox program.
Remove all rules for Firefox from the permissions list in the firewall and let your firewall ask again for permission to get full unrestricted access to internet for Firefox and the plugin-container process and the updater process.
See:
Yes, I ran the malware checks and my system came up clean with all of them.
I've also cleared cookies and the cache.
How do I remove rules for Firefox in my firewall? I'm running XP and the standard Windows firewall, but I don't see a "permissions list." Are you referring to the "exceptions?"
I actually haven't had any problems with Google today, so I'm hoping one of the things I've tried has fixed the problem. I've had a little trouble with other websites loading, but it's hard to tell if its a problem since I don't use those sites regularly. It was just one or two reputable websites I tried to open while doing some research.
Thanks again!