I've just moved my Compaq Presario 8000T Desktop from Comcast cable/modem direct ethernet connection to my fiance's house - now I am connected via Lynksis router to AOL DSL direct with proper cable into my machine. I'm running Windows XP Professional, and I'm pretty sure Internet Explorer 6.

Here's the problem: we've connected my computer to his router - he's a pro at setting these things up. We can access EVERY web site known, except those belonging to Microsoft. I use Hotmail routed to Outlook - can't access it. Cannot go to msn.com (my home page I use), cannot go to microsoft.com, hotmail.com. no problems with Yahoo, Google, HPshopping, sears, Cingular, etc. No problems except with Microsoft sites.

My fiance has a Compaq AMD processor laptop with Windows XP Professional - we can connect perfectly through same router - but wireless - to any website we want. His machine can get to all MS sites, so we know it is within my machine that there is a problem.

Here's what we've done - set up connectivity with my desktop to the router. Realized we could not get to any Microsoft sites. No firewalls were set up or active during this time. I downloaded SVP2 (I was a holdout until just a few days ago). Still cannot get to any Microsoft websites (but yet I can download updates .... I clicked on the balloon "you have updates waiting" so it really didn't seem to go to website to download). once SVP2 was loaded, I tried disabling MS Firewall - still not able to connect to any Microsoft websites.

We are BAFFLED to say the least. Again, he's using Linksys Router, AOL DSL. I just want to be able to read e-mail at home!!

Thanks for any advice.

Sounds like a spyware problem to me. Have you run the usual spyware programs? You might run "Hijack This" and post the results on the appropriate place.

I'm wondering if this could be an MTU problem, as I remember reading something like happening before. So I've Googled and came across this interesting post on another site (with apologies to those who may recognise as their own posting, but we've got try and help the original poster haven't we? ):

The MTU for an interface can sometimes be changed with utlility software supplied with the network card, or alternatively within the Device Manager for that device. Check there.

M.

Hello,

It is possible that you have bogus definitions for the microsoft sites in your hosts file. do a search for hosts... it will be in System32\drivers\etc or something like that, and you will need to open it in a text editor. Do not merely delete the file... check it to see if there are IP numbers and listings. The information of 127.0.0.1 belongs in that file.

You can also do a ping test

ping www.microsoft.com

and see if the numbers resolve properly.

Christian

Thank you to everyone's suggestions. My fiance logged into his Linksys router IP and changed the MTU setting to 1400 - THAT WORKED!!!!

I can't get into yahoo.com now, but I DON'T CARE!!!!!!. As long as I have my Hotmail, I'm happy.

Thanks again - problem solved.

It almost certainly is a Spyware problem. I have had exactly the same problem. Even though McAfee reported my machines as free from spyware, when I downloaded Spybot, it found 30 + infections. When I eventually cleaned them all up, which involved downloading Service Pack 2, the problem went away.

Recomendations:
1) Run Spybot to see if it reports anything
2) Update Windows Xp

I have been using a netgear router dg834 with AOL without any problems until yesterday, when I lost complete access to the internet. I had to reset the router back to default settings. After setting the router up again I was able to access the internet, however I found I could not access any microsoft sites, but I could access any other site. I found help on the AOL site which pointed me to my MTU settings. I also found these postings and thought I should add my exsperience to it. I reset my MTU to 1400 and all is well.

I ran into the same issue and after days of virus and spyware/adware scans, I discovered this post. I had recently changed the MTU's on my firewall to try to fix a VPN issue, but inadvertently killed my Microsoft updates. Changing the MTU back to 1500 on the internal interface corrected the issue. The standard ethernet MTU is 1500; PPPoE is 1492.

I have essentially the same problem, and I have no idea where to start as far as changing MTU numbers in my router. We have a Zoom ADSL X6 router with wireless. I'm running Vista and my fiance is running XP, and neither computer can access any microsoft sites. All was fine with our old router, which stopped working completely last week, which led to the purchase of the new one. I know how to access the router, however I am unable to find anything resembling "MTU." If anyone can give me more detailed instructions as to how to resolve this issue it would be much appreciated.

I had the same problem and after reading this thread and a few others was able to fix it. As was mentioned, you need to change your MTU in Vista in the Command Prompt. The command you need to run is below. Two things I had to change were the "Local Area Connection" to the name of my connection and the mtu to 512.

Netsh interface ipv4 set subinterface “Local Area Connection” mtu=1492 store=persistent

Secondly, I had to make sure that the command line was running in admin mode (go to all Programs/Accessories and right click on the Command Promt and click on run in admin mode)

If you don't know what your connection name is then type in ->
> Netsch
> interface ipv4
> show subinterface