My computer is blocking sites

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:14 am

A little background: I have not been able to go to Photobucket in forever. But I can go to it with a web proxy so I assumed that my ISP had blocked it for no reason. I told my dad about it and he was able to get on his computer and go to Photobucket. I'm like, WTF! Both of our computers are running through the same Linksys router without any restrictions. I'm like our home network admin because he has no idea what he is doing when it comes to that stuff. And our modem does not have changeable settings or restrictions for that matter.

I am hypothesizing it is the software on my computer that is blocking Photobucket. I have tried using both IE7 and Firefox2 to go to the site and neither work. I don't have anything blocked in either of the browsers. I use AVG Free, Windows Defender, and Ad-Aware SE for anti-virus. I also use Windows XP's built-in firewall.

I can't seem to figure out how to fix this. Feel free to ask questions about my software, etc. that may help narrow down what it could be. If you think you can help, feel free to contribute. Thanks.

DarkShallFall · Post by **DarkShallFall** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:52 am

Go to control panel

Then go to internet options.

Go to the security tab.

Click restricted sites.

You can add and remove from the list, if its not there then idk.
Insert picture with URLs to inappropriate sites here.

Patrickssj6 · Post by **Patrickssj6** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:53 am

Even though you share the same router you still have different external IPs...but this just for your information.

Why can't it open Photobucket? What error do you get? Timeout, 404?

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:01 pm

Argon wrote:Go to control panel

Then go to internet options.

Go to the security tab.

Click restricted sites.

You can add and remove from the list, if its not there then idk.
Insert picture with URLs to inappropriate sites here.

Like I said. There are not any restrictions on my browsers. There is nothing in that list.

Patrickssj6 wrote:Even though you share the same router you still have different external IPs...but this just for your information.

Why can't it open Photobucket? What error do you get? Timeout, 404?

I know that no two computers using DHCP can have to same IP address. Thats a no-brainer. I know we have different IP address. lol.

Firefox says: "Server not found"
"Firefox cannot find the server at www.photobucket.com"
IE7 says: "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage"

MrBalll · Post by **MrBalll** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:12 pm

Try this. http://photobucket.com/

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:14 pm

Does the same thing as before. "Server not found"

[cc]z@nd! · Post by **[cc]z@nd!** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:40 pm

open up your C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc folder and open up your hosts file in notepad and see if there's anything in there on photobucket. next check in the networks file for photobucket, or it's IP. it's possible that photobucket.com is listed as something like 127.0.0.1 in your hosts file, or almost anything else for that manner that would keep you from getting there.

also, see if there's any sort of parental block/monitor programs on your pc, it's possible if there's one on there that it's keeping you off photobucket.

lastly, but least likely, one of your anti-virus/firewall programs may be blocking access to photobucket, so check through their settings, or try getting to photobucket when one of 'em is disabled.

shadowkhas · Post by **shadowkhas** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:07 pm

Yeah, try turning off all unnecessary software, then going one by one until you get what's causing the problem.

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 1:15 pm

[cc]z@nd! wrote:open up your C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc folder and open up your hosts file in notepad and see if there's anything in there on photobucket. next check in the networks file for photobucket, or it's IP. it's possible that photobucket.com is listed as something like 127.0.0.1 in your hosts file, or almost anything else for that manner that would keep you from getting there.

also, see if there's any sort of parental block/monitor programs on your pc, it's possible if there's one on there that it's keeping you off photobucket.

lastly, but least likely, one of your anti-virus/firewall programs may be blocking access to photobucket, so check through their settings, or try getting to photobucket when one of 'em is disabled.

Whats in my "hosts" file:
# 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

I don't and never have had any parental control programs on my PC.

I use Windows XP's bulit-in firewall and can't find anything that it is blocking. Definitely not any Internet blocking options in Ad-Aware SE, cannot find any in Windows Defender either. I can't find anything in AVG Free, but is it possible that AVG Free could be blocking websites? I am pretty sure only the version you buy can do that.

shadowkhas wrote:Yeah, try turning off all unnecessary software, then going one by one until you get what's causing the problem.

First thing I tried. Didn't work.

Cuda · Post by **Cuda** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:36 pm

Did you try Deleting fucking everything? that works sometimes too.

But what is wrong with the proxy method? It doesn't work anymore or something?

-Legendary- · Post by **-Legendary-** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:40 pm

Go to, 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.1.0, use Admin, and Password, for the password, or just Admin, and then click the blocked sites tab. But It's just a virus type thing.

Aumaan Anubis · Post by **Aumaan Anubis** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:13 pm

This probably won't work, but try deleting your past website history. You know, Tools > Delete Browsing History. That's if you're using IE7.

Though it probably has no relation to your problem, that sometimes fixes some online problems for me.

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:26 pm

Cuda wrote:Did you try Deleting *** everything? that works sometimes too.

But what is wrong with the proxy method? It doesn't work anymore or something?

What do you mean by "deleting everything"? Why should I have to use a proxy if my dad's PC can go to the site without one? All pictures from that site are blocked too. I can't access any pics hosted on Photobucket. It's a pain in the butt.

-Legendary- wrote:Go to, 192.168.1.1, or 192.168.1.0, use Admin, and Password, for the password, or just Admin, and then click the blocked sites tab. But It's just a virus type thing.

That gets me to my router and it is not blocking anything.

Aumaan Anubis wrote:This probably won't work, but try deleting your past website history. You know, Tools > Delete Browsing History. That's if you're using IE7.

Though it probably has no relation to your problem, that sometimes fixes some online problems for me.

Nope. Just tried it.

Thanks tho guys. Can someone give me a list of the only processes that have to run for the computer to work properly? I want to kill all of the rest of the unnecessary processes and see if it helps. Can a computer access the Internet in Safe Mode with Networking? Never tried it.

Edit: Nevermind. I'm in Safe Mode with Networking now and Photobucket still won't load. Same thing as before: "Server not found". Anymore ideas?

Pyroman · Post by **Pyroman** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:57 pm

I know what your going through. I haven't been able to download anything from Microsoft's website in many years. Including some videos from Bungie and certain little updates I needed. Sucks.

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:15 pm

Using dnsstuff.com I got photobucket's IP address and typed that into my address bar. (http://66.11.54.5) It worked! But I still can't access it normally.

So I am guessing it will be the www.photobucket.com that is blocked and not the IP when I find the culprit. Still doesn't help me tho. I can't log in to my account with this, and can't view pics hosted on the site.

Edit: I figured it out. I changed some of my settings with my port forwarding on my router and now I can go to Photobucket just fine. Weird?

Yamagushi · Post by **Yamagushi** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:24 pm

I told ya man its probably your ISP, not all sites work on all ISPs. I remember way back I had AOL and there were a number of sites that wouldnt work.

scynide · Post by **scynide** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 9:27 pm

Yamagushi wrote:I told ya man its probably your ISP, not all sites work on all ISPs. I remember way back I had AOL and there were a number of sites that wouldnt work.

Think about this. My dad can go to it on his computer. We use the same ISP and modem. lol. Anyways, I figured it out. I changed some of my settings with my port forwarding on my router and now I can go to Photobucket just fine. Weird? Thanks for the help tho guys.

shadowkhas · Post by **shadowkhas** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 9:32 pm

Good to know. Just to be safe, if it happens again, go into that hosts file and type in

Code: Select all

66.11.54.5 www.photobucket.com

And I can't believe I missed this, but keep in mind that these things go into the Tech Questions forum better.
Topic locked, your question was answered.