can't connect to some sites

Thanks for this. I'll check these out. I should have said also that the two sites are a download page on free grisoft and the other is an online scan page so it may be that they are both secure sites. Also when I tried to connect to them via The Cloak it worked OK and I wondered whether this might help identify what my problem is.

I think the problem may be that I have lost my 'hosts' file.

In the system32, drivers, etc folder there is a file called 'hosts.xdrive' and one called 'lmhosts' but not one visible called 'hosts'. (I used to have xdrive software on my computer but removed it a long time ago).

However when I tried to copy my hosts file over from my laptop to the desktop that is having problems it said doing this would replace a 'hosts' file already there in the 'etc' folder. But I can't see this. If it is there it seems to be invisible.

I have been told that the hosts file having problems may be a reason why some sites may be blocked. The blocked sites can be added to this file. But I can't even see the hosts file unless it is one of the two mentioned above or is there but invisible.

The one called hosts.xdrive looks like a hosts file and has the following info.

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp. #
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows. #
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each # entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should # be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name. # The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one # space. # # Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual # lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol. #
# For example: # # 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server # 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
10.254.254.253 Xdrive

Can anyone help with this?

Message Edited by LukeMB on 04-12-2007 11:04 PM

Problem solved. I copied the 'hosts' file from my laptop to the desktop where the problem was. Now I can connect to the sites I couldn't connect to before. So it was a problem with the hosts file. The only thing I still don't understand is that the operation told me I was replacing a hosts file that was on my desktop in the 'etc' folder but which I could not see there.

Thanks for your help Ronss. Just in case anyone else comes searching here for a solution, what happened to me was - the 'hosts' file in windows/System32/drivers/etc lists sites that are barred. There shouldn't be more than just the localhost listed here. However my file got a virus which was not initially picked up by AVG free, unusual as this virus checker has been great so far. It did spy it in the end. The virus made the 'hosts' file hidden so it seemed the 'hosts' file was not there. And it also added anti-virus sites to the barred lists, eg AVG free and Trend Housecall so that I could not access them. I solved it by getting the same file from another XP computer and transferring it to the faulty computer. It replaced the infected file. I then ran a virus check on the folder which picked up two infected hidden back up hosts file which I quanrantined. Hope this helps someone else who has this problem.