Odd Issue Connecting to a Website

DampCat · 17 Jun 2009 at 23:07

Hey

My girlfriend has done something to her netbook... whenver she tries to go to Facebook, it tries to redirect her to her UNI website (www.essex.ac.uk) and then gives an error message...

Every other websit eworks but facebook... where is the first place id even look for this? :confused:

Trinitrotoluene · 17 Jun 2009 at 23:42

Goto C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\etc

Open the "hosts" file with notepad

Remove the line that has facebook.com on it next to a number

Someone must have done this as a Joke, personally I think it's quite funny lol.

DampCat · 18 Jun 2009 at 01:07

Hmmm no entry for facebook in there, only the localhost IP.

I'll keep searching, although useful to know about that file anyway!

tolien · 18 Jun 2009 at 01:42

Set her browser to use the university's proxy?

DampCat · 18 Jun 2009 at 09:05

This is when we're at home, though.

She said she connected to facebook at Uni, and her Uni connection scanned her laptop for antivirus software (presumably via browser?!) and wouldn't allow her to connect without it... and now whenever she tries to visit facebook at home, it redirects to the Uni error page (or attempts to, but because she's not using the Uni network, it just says "error trying to connect").

So... i am literally more confused than i have ever been!

Make her install AVG or soemthing, and then go back to uni and try and connect to facebook, hoping that the browser scanner will reverse whatever it did?

bledd · 18 Jun 2009 at 09:07

does it work in other browsers? or just IE isn't working with it..

DampCat · 18 Jun 2009 at 10:09

It's firefox having the issue at the moment, i didnt think to try IE. Sec, i'll give her a call.

bledd · 18 Jun 2009 at 11:49

maybe try a 'reset to default settings' on the secuirty software..

can her freinds still get to facebook?

also check lmhosts (same folder), not sure if this still applies to newer os's

DampCat · 18 Jun 2009 at 12:49

Her friends can, and this is happening when we're at home on her laptop, not connecting to the UNI network. Presumably it's soemthign to do with the AV scan it did when she was there, though.

tolien · 18 Jun 2009 at 13:30

DampCat said:
This is when we're at home, though.?

I meant has she set her browser to use the proxy?
This "antivirus scan" has obviously set something, and that seems like the obvious candidate (though it would be the first I've heard of that sort of software messing about with Firefox).

DampCat · 18 Jun 2009 at 13:56

No setting of the browser to use the proxy... but she's not done that before either on her old laptop. Unless this antivirus checker does it automatically? It wont let them connect to the network without having antivirus on their laptops so it obviously does make some settings or changes...

Odd. At this stage all i can think of is installing the AV then making her go back and try again, to see if this checker they have wil "release" her browser now. So weird. I've never heard of anything like this.