some sites don't work anymore?

[AngelicDevil]

Hi everyone! I'm new to Spybot (just installed two days ago) and I'm not that familiar with IT, so an explanation with plain English would be lovely.

Anyway, I got some problems with spywares few days ago and found out about Spybot. After getting my laptop checked for problems and immunised, now there are some sites that seem to be inaccessible. These include: Yahoo, Facebook, Friendster. I can go to the main page of Google, but the search engine won't work. I can also go to the login page to Yahoo mail, but after logging in it would load and stop.

Yesterday I read the FAQs and found out about Hosts file that blocks some websites. I tried to modify it but I couldn't find the URL of either Yahoo or other sites mentioned being blocked, so I left it just the way it is.

Now, I start thinking maybe it's because of the immunisation.

Anyone can tell me the reason behind this and how to make those websites accessible again?

Thanks in advance, your help will be much appreciated!

[md usa spybot fan]

AngelicDevil:

Are you using Internet Explorer?

[AngelicDevil]

AngelicDevil:

Are you using Internet Explorer?

Yes, I also downloaded Opera but the same problem occured so I removed it.

Did I do something wrong? *puzzled*

[AngelicDevil]

Sry for the double posting.

FYI, I use Internet Explorer 7.

I had Firefox (and downloaded Opera) but same problem occured so I removed both.

[md usa spybot fan]

AngelicDevil:

Actually I'm a little stumped. I use Google all the time without any problems.

I initially suspected the "SDHelper" Browser Help Object which blocks advertizing URLs because people have reported problems using Yahoo under certain conditions. But since "SDHelper" only works with Internet Explorer and you indicated problems with other browsers as well, it has to be something else.

Try doing an immunization "Undo" and see if that help full allow access to the sites you are having problems with.

[caterwaul]

AngelicDevil:

Actually I'm a little stumped. I use Google all the time without any problems.

I initially suspected the "SDHelper" Browser Help Object which blocks advertizing URLs because people have reported problems using Yahoo under certain conditions. But since "SDHelper" only works with Internet Explorer and you indicated problems with other browsers as well, it has to be something else.

Try doing an immunization "Undo" and see if that help full allow access to the sites you are having problems with.

Addendum - further instructions (AngelicDevil did say "I'm new to Spybot (just installed two days ago) and I'm not that familiar with IT, so an explanation with plain English would be lovely")

STEP1:
You need to go into "immunize" click on the button on the left in the main page of SpyBot (SB).

You will find profiles in that screen with mulitple items probably saying are "protected".

IMPORTANT: You have said that you have installed and later uninstalled both Opera and Firefox. In that case you should ONLY see profiles for Internet Explorer (IE7). The IE7 profiles will all have the IE icon showing in front of the profiles listed. No other icons should be present on your profile list.

You can right click with your mouse on one of these profiles and a context menu will allow you to "select all" or "deselect all" (I can't use SB1.5.2 so I can't check the "exact wording" so this is maybe not exactly what you see but you will get the idea).

Or you can just click on each profile individually to "select" or "deselect". This places or removes a "check mark" in front of each depending upon what is whether the "check mark" is there at the time or not. Many will refers to these "check marks" as "ticks" btw.

If a "checkmark" is present then you are selecting this profile and only those profiles checked will be impacted by anything you do as far as changes.

STEP2:
With all profiles "checked" you then click the "undo" to "unprotect" all profiles as was suggested by this post.

Now that all profiles are "unprotected" see if you still have the problems you speak of.

If this solves your problem you can add web page addresses (URL's) to a "Whitelist" so that they will not be impacted by SB.

With URL's in the Whitelist you can then "immunize" the profiles again by clicking the "immunize" button and hopefully the Whitelist entries will help to avoid the problems with those web sites from here on out.

[AngelicDevil]

I just tried what you suggested. So, now my browser is not protected at all. And I also checked the hosts file has already reset to 1kb only. But the problem stays!

I still can't open Yahoo, Friendster, or Facebook

Well, probably I'll just uninstall Spybot and see how it goes. Then re-install Spybot.

Please somebody help me...

[AngelicDevil]

My last message was for Spybot_Fan, I'm gonna try what you suggested caterwaul! Thx in advance!

[caterwaul]

I was just reiterating what md usa spybot fan has posted as far as doing an "undo" for immunization.

Try doing an immunization "Undo" and see if that help full allow access to the sites you are having problems with.

If this is what you did then what I have posted is not any different... I was just elaborating with detailed instructoins on how to do this.

I would think by not having any immunization "on" (no "profiles" protected) then SpyBot would not be the problem.

If you do re-install you will need to do an uninstall first.

Link: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html

[AngelicDevil]

I was just reiterating what md usa spybot fan has posted as far as doing an "undo" for immunization.



If this is what you did then what I have posted is not any different... I was just elaborating with detailed instructoins on how to do this.

I would think by not having any immunization "on" (no "profiles" protected) then SpyBot would not be the problem.

If you do re-install you will need to do an uninstall first.

Link: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html

I've uninstalled Spybot (with the help from your link) and the problem stays. The weird thing is, after checking my problems with Spybot for the first time, I could open any websites. But after immunisation, some sites just don't work.

Another thing is, even though I removed opera and firefox, when I clicked Spybot there are still Opera and Firefox icons!

Is it because of Spybot? Or new virus?? Or my laptop? This annoys me because I don't know where the problem is. Would the older version of Spybot do any better? Thx in advance!


p.s. you mentioned about whitelists, how can I access whitelists?