[pchelpers] Re: Internet problem with XPPro

Hello PcCowboy,

Friday, May 30, 2003, 10:15:00 PM, you wrote:

P> I once had that problem.
P> I would type in my address www.lewissaddleshop.com and another
P> website would show up. My address would be showing in the address line
P> but it wasn't my site in the window.
P> I found out that there was a text file that was re-directing my internet 
addresses.
P> A long time ago when you typed in an address the browser would look in this
P> file to see where to find it. Even though it doesn't work that away anymore 
there
P> still is that file on the computers. It is a blank file. Somehow my address
P> got into that file pointing it to the other website.

P> I can not remember the name of that file. Maybe someone here will.

That file is still there and still works.  It's the HOSTS file, and in
WinXP, it's found in %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc.  I think it's the
same for Win2K.  For Win9x/ME, I think it's in %WINDIR%\SYSTEM; but
you may have to use Find/Search to find it.

Some internet accelerator program try to help out by hard-coding IP
addresses in this file, to speed up access.  This defeats the purpose
of using names, as your example illustrates, and when the name is
assigned to a different IP, you can no longer reach that site.

It's a simple text file, so if "WWW.IRS.GOV" is in there, simply
delete the line, and things should start working again.

--Scott.

Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig>
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