IE6 Inoperable After Idle

[Lezli]

I’ve seen a few other posts where people have had the same problem with both IE and Firefox. Hopefully someone can help me out.

Here’s the deal. After sitting idle, usually for a few hours, my browser won’t refresh or open new pages. I have a new machine with XP Pro SP2, and IE6 SP2. Zone Alarm(automatic lock is off), NAV 06 and eTrust Pest Control. I scan with NAV, Adaware and SpyBot regularly, and I’m running SpySweeter right now. I’m not networked (no router), and my internet connection is cable.

Here is what I’ve tried so far: I can ping Google’s numerical address and get a reply, but I get no reply when I ping the URL.

LAN settings are set to Automatically connect – both IP and DNS.

I can do an ipconfig release/renew but still not be able to access webpages. The only thing that seems to help is a reboot, then all is magically well again.

Any ideas, suggestions? I’ve got a HJT log, but everything there looks good to me, but what do I know?

Thanks for any help I can get!

['Stein]

Have you tried resetting the host file?

From what I see, this seems to be the problem.

If you need help with this, post back and I'll get some directions up.

Thanks.

EDIT: Here's a way to reset it.

Go here and download Hoster. Run it.

[Lezli]

Hey 'Stein

Thanks for the suggestion. I downloaded and ran Hoster 3.1, although I had a look at my hosts file and it seems to be the original MS file. I'll leave this idle for a while and see what happens.

[Lezli]

Still have the problem. I left the computer on, with 4 browser pages open, overnight.

Here are this mornings results:

I was able to refresh page one. but it was very slow, and it came back with errors on the page.

Page 2: Tried to refresh as well. Status bar indicates that it is opening the page(about 10 seconds) then it tells me it's detecting proxy settings, then it tells me it's finding the page, then I get the stupid dell page telling me it couldn't find the page, but here are some alternatives. (How do I get rid of that, by the way? I found it in my HJT log, but I'm not sure how to get rid of it)

Pages 3&4 tried to access links, but nothing. Status bar just tells me it's going to the Dell page.

On page 4 I also tried Googles IP address in the browser address bar--that didn't work. Again, it looks for the Dell page in the status bar. However, if I click my link for Google at this point, Google will open, but that's as far as the browser will go. I can't go to any other sites from there.

I just remembered something... about 3 weeks ago, before this started, I logged on one day and my home page wasn't my home page. I can't remember what it was but I think it was the Dell page. When I tried to change it back in Internet Options, I wasn't able to. If I remember correcty I had to change my registry to fix it. So, that makes me think virus, even though 4 programs have not been able to find anything. The home page issue is fine now, but now I have this other funky problem.

Next suggestion, please and thanks!