Can't get to Secure sites, nor send Email--

[strat1]

My Father gave me a call this morning and has a few reoccurring problems (for the past 2 months) with his old Dell 400 desktop with XP Pro with Norton AV and Firewall.

He is not able to get into the following sites- Smith Barney, Citibank, Airline sites any Secure sites
He does have 128- Encryption in IE.
HE is able to Receive email on Outlook, but cannot send Emails.
For a couple weeks he was having issues booting where it would hang at the Welcome Screen, but now that problem is gone.

He has run Ad aware, Norton Virus scans, multiple times.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[BipolarBill]

He needs to open his HOSTS file in Wordpad and delete all redirects to 127.0.0.1. They are easy to see and remove.

As far as sending mail, there are two possible problems:

1. Bad outgoing message blocking the queue. He would have to open Outbox and remove the troublesome message.

2. Wrong SMTP settings in the account. Outgoing mail goes over port 25 and the SMTP server setting must be right.

Why is everyone so reluctant to call their ISP?

[strat1]

Thanks for the help, I will have him try that tonight!

As for-- Why is everyone so reluctant to call their ISP?

****, I thought I was in the right place to get Technical help with a reoccurring computer problem. http://sysopt.com/forum/logobbs2.gif

Should I be asking for your best Chocolate chip cookie Recipe?
http://www.verybestbaking.com/graphics/global/seasonal/7/top_left.gif

PS, he did call his ISP!

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Why is everyone so reluctant to call their ISP?

Duno bout the US but over here the phones are charged at liek a quid a minute, thats why i never ever ring my ISP :eek:

--Jakk:t

[strat1]

Usually they are clueless over here if they are Free?

I have a copy of PC Anywhere- could I do a Remote install of PC ANYWHERE from my PC to try to fic the problem?

[strat1]

This is what he sent me

[AllGamer]

PcAnywhere via modem will work
but is a Paiiiiiiin slowwwwww.... :p

:t

[strat1]

Originally posted by AllGamer
PcAnywhere via modem will work
but is a Paiiiiiiin slowwwwww.... :p
:t

We both have Cable with d/l speeds of 2meg.
Would that make it all worth the effort?

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by strat1
I thought I was in the right place to get Technical help with a reoccurring computer problem. What does SysOpt know about this individual's SMTP server or settings? If their ISP can't help them with e-mail problems, why does he give them his money?

[strat1]

Originally posted by BipolarBill
What does SysOpt know about this induhvidual's SMTP server or settings? If their ISP can't help them with e-mail problems, why does he give them his money?
I was trying to give an overview of all the problems, which all started at the same time.
Outlook worked for years, until now. He was able to access all of his banking sites for years until now. He did contact his ISP, with no luck because his settings are correct - Duh!
I did try to give the OS, Computer details, what he has done to try to fix it, and then I jumped through your **** hoops by posting the Hosts.txt file with no response to that.
I did read an earlier post (http://sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138719&perpage=15&pagenumber=3) by you trying to help another person, but that did not work for either of us.

IMO- you jump all over AllGamer for not being specific enough when he tries to help, but you’re a peach to deal with let me tell you- and I am no better off than when I started. You have an answer (justification) for all of your snide remarks.

Excuses me if I was looking for help from Sysopt, I expected more from you, a moderator.:t

[BipolarBill]

Call me a curmudgeon if you like, but that doesn't change the fact that his ISP owes him service. Someone has to speak the truth here.

Please don't tell me I wasn't specific. Re-read my first post. You can't get more specific. We have been dealing with viruses, re-directs and spyware here for ages. Once you get past that and your firewall settings, you have to contact your ISP - or re-install Windows. Any way you look at it, the ISP is the first stop and you must get beyond the "script kiddies" in tier 1 support. That means more that one call, usually.

SysOpt doesn't have all of the answers.

[strat1]

What are you talking about? Did you reply to the correct post?

“Call me a curmudgeon” OK
“his ISP owes him service”. You Tell him!
“Someone has to speak the truth here.” AMEN JESUS!
”Please don't tell me I wasn't specific.” HUH? Please see post
“re-install Windows”. Great answer- that’s what the Tier 1 guy said
”SysOpt doesn't have all of the answers.” ****, I thought it did?

You lost me with most of that post, but lets get back to the issues and not the name-calling or insulting remarks unbecoming of a Moderator or Member!


What about reading the Hosts file that I attached—does that help you out?

What does this stuff mean?
# +++++ START of TweakMASTER DNS Accelerator Section +++++
# +++++ Manual changes made to the following lines will be lost +++++
# +++++ END of TweakMASTER DNS Accelerator Section +++++

[BipolarBill]

Watch your temper. You've been warned.

His HOSTs file is pristine - like right off the CD. That ain't it.

Here's what's left:

1. Misconfigured or bonkers firewall software. Uninstall to be sure. De-activating most firewalls won't stop their activities, believe it or not.

2. Overzealous antivirus software. See above.

In the case of the two above "solutions", I would be sure to reinstall them after testing, naturally. A fresh install should work fine.

3. Spyware. You know the drill - AdAware or Spybot and be sure to update them before scanning.

4. Lastly - virus. There's an insidious new worm loose on IRC channels called Fizzer (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.hllw.fizzer@mm.html). A friend has it. It shuts down AV software instantly and then goes nuts. The IRC channel gods have a handle on it. They actually hacked the virus and told it to self-destruct. Unfortunately, once it gets inside your firewall or router, they can't get in to fix it. Here's a case where too much protection is a bad thing. Get the fix here (http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.hllw.fizzer.removal.tool.html).

[Bigjakkstaffa]

”SysOpt doesn't have all of the answers.” ****, I thought it did?

No, we just do what we can based on education in the field of Computers. Remember this service is free, so dont whine about it, im sure you would be sore as hell if you had to pay exorbitant rates on an hourly basis for a PC Repairman to come out and take a look.

Be greatful for the advice given and dont moan about it, without it you would have nothing to go on with at all.

If the problem is really at his end the Firewall or AV is proabably the main culprit, in which case do what Bill prescribes, however if they arent the cause it is most likely a problem at the ISP's end

--Jakk:t

[strat1]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
Be greatful for the advice given and dont moan about it, without it you would have nothing to go on with at all.--Jakk:t
I was not whining at all – I was being 100 % facetious! (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=facetious) !

I am VERY GREATFUL FOR ALL THE HELP from this PLACE! Where was I whining?

[omendata]

Maybe bill hasnt had his coffee this morning - A techie without his coffee is like a bear with a sore head!!!

Mail him a bottle of extra fine Jamaican (coffee that is).

Keep on at your ISP - NTL is the same here and there **** engineers!!!

Keep trying till you get past the 'Tier1 Bipolar Bills'!!!
snarf snarf >;o)
:eek:
:-@
:D

[strat1]

Thanks for the help again BPB, I will have try that this weekend and post back the results!

[BipolarBill]

Well, to be honest, I am "only" on my third cup now. Trouble is, I wrote the "snippy" message last night.

The anger in this thread started because the ISP has not been helpful. That's all too common these days. I made the "mistake" of asking why the user hadn't tried the ISP first. Mail-sending issues usually must be dealt with there. You really have to be a ballbuster to get those knuckleheads to help sometimes. Strat1's dad is probably a gentleman. You know what they say about nice guys...

Here's the trouble with WAN networking issues at SysOpt: there is only so much that we can do because the problem may not be in the home at all. We can hack and chop and reinstall for days only to find out that the ISP has "issues". Wouldn't that be a huge waste? The first stop should always be the ISP and the calls must be insistent. Even if it isn't their "fault", they should know how to fix it. If they don't, that's sad. After all, they are "professionals" and are indeed being paid. We are paid only in satisfaction and knowledge. It's ironic that ISPs won't hire experienced people. Know why? We're overqualified because we know how to fix this stuff! :p

[Bigjakkstaffa]

We can hack and chop and reinstall for days only to find out that the ISP has "issues".

I once formatted and totaly re-setup a system that was supposedly having internet problems once to find it was a 5 hour problem with the ISP from another source :'(

--Jakk:t

[BipolarBill]

I was actually fired from an ISP help desk job once because I fixed the problems. They wanted me off the phone in 7 minutes because they were paid per call (contractor). What I was doing was trying to get the actual fix time down to 7-10 minutes rather than bailing out at 7 exactly. I had some hour-long calls, but I got 'em fixed! :( :cool:

[AllGamer]

oh yeah i know those

i really hate to work for places like that, instead of really helping people out, they just want to you say hi to them and flush them off
:mad:

part of the reason why i also left the ISP job and some other, they said i stay with the customers for too long

Duh!... if they don't get their problem fixed, they'll just keep on calling back

might as well fix them now than bounce them around until they are mad, and leave for another company :rolleyes:

anyways, i'm happy where i'm now, here i actually get to solve cases completely from start to end

not like those other places i've been )-|

[omendata]

Yeah know it well Bill - I nearly got the chop for spending too much time trying to fix problems when I was an engineer out on the road.

I was told "I wasnt there to fix problems" but pickup the pc's and bring em in for repair - You wouldnt believe the ripoffs - one guy got his entire pc almost replaced , motherboard , gfx card , memory , cpu , hard disk when all that was wrong was a windows problem - I kept my mouth shut after that before I told the boss where to shove it (after i found a better job that is!)

Thats why people should take their problems to the small independant guys like yourself - we take pride in fixing a problem 101% - the big companies are just a complete ripoff and Ive worked with many.
:confused:

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by omendata
one guy got his entire pc almost replaced , motherboard , gfx card , memory , cpu , hard disk when all that was wrong was a windows problem That's not just a ripoff - that's grand theft in some states! All of that hardware? Gawd...

[omendata]

Yeah the one thing that really annoyed me was it was a really decent guy - head of IT at the Glasgow College For The Blind and he knew he was being ripped off too!!!

I had to make various excuses which I absolutely hate doing thats why I left.

Guess I havent got the head for business Gordon Gecko style but that seems to be what most businesses are like sadly.

Gone are the days of the conscientious engineer and 100% customer service.......How sad.........
:( :eek: :mad:

:confused: