A very unusual "page cannot be displayed" problem

[matthewpinsent]

Hi everyone!

(I am using Windows 98 S.E. and internet explorer 6 SP1)
Just earlier today I'm getting a problem within internet explorer that the page cannot be displayed dialogue is coming up no matter which website I try to enter (whether i type in www format or i.p.), yes EVERY TIME! I later realised that when I go into windows explorer however, it works fine. e.g. I click on my computer, then type internet addresses in that window. But whenever I try to launch an internet explorer window or a popup comes up, I get the same page cannot be displayed problem. I have to go through windows explorer every time I need to view a site. Also this shows that it's not a problem with my ISP, since even msn emssenger works fine. Problem is just with internet explorer.
Im nto really sure how the problem started but I must admit, I deleted some registry values earlier but I am 90% sure that they didnt effect it. Because these were just to remove an annoying option frm the right click menu within internt explorer that this program added itself. Besides, I was using internet explorer after that and it was completely fine! The problem actually began a few hours later after I had just finished a spyware scan from adaware 6. I deleted everything that was found as I usually do, then when I opened internet explorer this started to happen. I have not installed any programs though I did get some spyware installed from some site i went to, which is why i did the ad aware scan.

What I have tried and hasn't helped:
Used adware, spybot S & D, Hijack this to remove possible spywares
Did a virus scan and deleted 20 odd files that it found
Re installed internet explorer, tried to use the "fix errors" option in it as well
Re installed my modem

Note I can also ping sites completely fine from ms dos prompt, the problem lies within internet explorer itself :mad:

So can anyone help? I noticed from older threads links to an internet registry fixer or something, but these links do not work. Can anyone help me by giving me a working link for it, as I think it might help? Also, I have heard about "scanreg" and that it can be used to restore the registry. Does it change or remove any files from the hard drive if I use it to restore the registry? I do not want to lose the files I have and I preferably wouldnt want to do a system restore.

Thanks for reading this very long post, and thanks in advance to all of you for your help!

[NJDevil5]

I have the same exact problem you've described. I noticed it 2 days ago as I was reinstalling my wireless card which stopped working. After 2.5 hours with the wireless tech hotline, they deduced that it's a IE problem We pinged different sites as well and everything worked well. They suggest reinstalling Internet Explorer which I planned to do tonight. Sounds like you did but had not success. I was actually going to do a complete reinstall of windows 98se to see if this corrected the problem. Any other suggestions?

Hi everyone!

(I am using Windows 98 S.E. and internet explorer 6 SP1)
Just earlier today I'm getting a problem within internet explorer that the page cannot be displayed dialogue is coming up no matter which website I try to enter (whether i type in www format or i.p.), yes EVERY TIME! I later realised that when I go into windows explorer however, it works fine. e.g. I click on my computer, then type internet addresses in that window. But whenever I try to launch an internet explorer window or a popup comes up, I get the same page cannot be displayed problem. I have to go through windows explorer every time I need to view a site. Also this shows that it's not a problem with my ISP, since even msn emssenger works fine. Problem is just with internet explorer.
Im nto really sure how the problem started but I must admit, I deleted some registry values earlier but I am 90% sure that they didnt effect it. Because these were just to remove an annoying option frm the right click menu within internt explorer that this program added itself. Besides, I was using internet explorer after that and it was completely fine! The problem actually began a few hours later after I had just finished a spyware scan from adaware 6. I deleted everything that was found as I usually do, then when I opened internet explorer this started to happen. I have not installed any programs though I did get some spyware installed from some site i went to, which is why i did the ad aware scan.

What I have tried and hasn't helped:
Used adware, spybot S & D, Hijack this to remove possible spywares
Did a virus scan and deleted 20 odd files that it found
Re installed internet explorer, tried to use the "fix errors" option in it as well
Re installed my modem

Note I can also ping sites completely fine from ms dos prompt, the problem lies within internet explorer itself :mad:

So can anyone help? I noticed from older threads links to an internet registry fixer or something, but these links do not work. Can anyone help me by giving me a working link for it, as I think it might help? Also, I have heard about "scanreg" and that it can be used to restore the registry. Does it change or remove any files from the hard drive if I use it to restore the registry? I do not want to lose the files I have and I preferably wouldnt want to do a system restore.

Thanks for reading this very long post, and thanks in advance to all of you for your help!

[thepom11]

it may have something to do with a firewall if you have one or part of your anti-virus setup. just give it a check.

[alc6379]

if it only happens in IE, I'd be looking at a spyware issue then. Check out some of the threads posted at the top of the Security forum here. For your convenience, I've linked to those threads in my sig, most notably the one on "Helping Yourself"