Member Avatar for josboh

Hi...new here just looking for some help. Im sure the answer is simple...but i cant figure it out.

In a nutshell, when I go to open Internet Explorer on my main computer it shows this page:
"Index of / and then Parent Directory 22-Sep-2004 "
this page comes up when i try to load the main page of a website, eg, www.yahoo.com
when i try to load a page within a website, it shows:
" This Page Cannot Be Found", eg. www.website.com/page.html
Now, I was having no issues before and I havent loaded any out of the ordinary software recently. I've since ran both webroots spybot and lavasoft's adware. Also, I've ran a thorough anti virus scan that didnt come up with anything.
I have a solid internet connection as seen by my ability to use this laptop off of the same network. This is boggling to me and I have no answer. Has anyone else at all seen this?? Any help even if its not the exact answer would be appreciated. I cant find anything at Microsoft.com...

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Dani AI

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Brief diagnosis and practical next steps. Seeing an "Index of /" directory listing when trying to open known sites means the browser is connecting to some web server that is returning a directory listing (typical of Apache/IIS) instead of the real site. Because noted a laptop on the same network worked, this points to a local configuration or process on the affected PC (modified hosts file, an HTTP proxy, a local web server, or DNS being overridden), not the ISP or the remote site. reported the same symptom and pointed to an official Microsoft fix, but the root cause is frequently one of the local items below.

Quick diagnostics (run from a command prompt) and what to watch for:

nslookup www.yahoo.com
ping www.yahoo.com
tracert www.yahoo.com
ipconfig /flushdns

netstat -ano | findstr :80
tasklist /FI "PID eq <PID_from_netstat>"

type C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
  • If nslookup/ping resolve to 127.0.0.1 or an unexpected LAN address, DNS/hosts/proxy is redirecting traffic.
  • If netstat shows a process listening on port 80, identify its PID with tasklist; common culprits are IIS (w3svc), Apache, or a rogue app.
  • Inspect the hosts file for entries that map big sites to local IPs; back it up and remove suspicious lines.

Common remediation steps (order matters): back up the hosts file and any data first; stop and disable any unwanted local webserver (Services or net stop w3svc); remove or reconfigure any proxy settings (Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> uncheck proxy); flush DNS; remove malicious hosts entries; reset Internet Explorer to defaults if only IE is affected. If local malware is suspected (persistence in hosts/proxy), run a current anti-malware scan with a reputable scanner and consider Safe Mode with Networking for cleanup.

Cautions: always back up the hosts file before editing and avoid deleting legitimate entries. If the quick checks above still show normal external IPs but the problem persists, the machine may be running a transparent proxy or compromised system component; in that case a clean restore or reinstall is the last-resort option.

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Member Avatar for Tee84

Hi...new here just looking for some help. Im sure the answer is simple...but i cant figure it out.

In a nutshell, when I go to open Internet Explorer on my main computer it shows this page:
"Index of / and then Parent Directory 22-Sep-2004 "
this page comes up when i try to load the main page of a website, eg, www.yahoo.com
when i try to load a page within a website, it shows:
" This Page Cannot Be Found", eg. www.website.com/page.html
Now, I was having no issues before and I havent loaded any out of the ordinary software recently. I've since ran both webroots spybot and lavasoft's adware. Also, I've ran a thorough anti virus scan that didnt come up with anything.
I have a solid internet connection as seen by my ability to use this laptop off of the same network. This is boggling to me and I have no answer. Has anyone else at all seen this?? Any help even if its not the exact answer would be appreciated. I cant find anything at Microsoft.com...

Hey I am having the exact same problem did you ever find out how to fix it? Post back when you get the chance..cya

Member Avatar for josboh

Tee,
That was a little while ago. I kinda remember that issue, but I kinda dont and unfortunately I have no clue how it was solved. Knowing me I probably just backed everything up and reformated. Im sorry I couldnt be of help.

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