# My computer hates some web sites and refuses to go to them **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140 "2014-07-01T22:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/1 "2014-07-01T22:10:50Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com), [ESPN.com](http://ESPN.com), [isitdown.com](http://isitdown.com) refuse to load. All 3 major browsers act this way. There’s no pretense of loading the website, it just gives up immediately. Chrome says: Error code: ERR\_SOCKET\_NOT\_CONNECTED. Firefox says: The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading. We turned off the firewall, flushed the sockets, closed idle sockets, turned off “Use TLS 1.0”, got nowhere. Any ideas of what could be going on? I get [Reuters.com](http://Reuters.com), [Reddit.com](http://Reddit.com), this site, [popsci.com](http://popsci.com), [salon.com](http://salon.com) just to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/2 "2014-07-01T22:14:33Z")
You have a virus or malware. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/3 "2014-07-01T22:34:32Z")
Or the hosts file got screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/4 "2014-07-01T22:59:03Z")
Please explain what the hosts file is, what it does, and how to fix. Please? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/5 "2014-07-01T23:04:44Z")
check your PM ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/6 "2014-07-02T07:57:57Z")
Are you in Britain? Are you with BT? If so they had a major screw-up but it’s fixed now. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/7 "2014-07-02T17:25:34Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Are you in Britain? Are you with BT? If so they had a major screw-up but it’s fixed now. His browsers just needed the crud blown out of them, some kind of add in/toolbar/browser mod. I did a quick remote session with him/her ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/8 "2014-07-02T17:55:06Z")
Thanks for the help, but it’s back, twice. It did the same thing, so I downloaded a new copy of ADW Cleaner, and then Pandora and CNN opened, but in still in the first song playing on Pandora, it stopped, and Firefox once again says it can’t access the network when I try those two sites. Mind you, I’m typing this on the same computer. [LAtimes.com](http://LAtimes.com) works, too. ---
**Author:** ![Suicide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Suicide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suicide)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-computer-hates-some-web-sites-and-refuses-to-go-to-them/692140/9 "2014-07-02T18:40:29Z")
I all of a sudden a few days ago stopped being able to access some websites, such as [www.gambling911.com](http://www.gambling911.com), a site with news about las vegas and gambling…i get knocked offline for a minute and message comes up–we are restarting browser…i have aol…aol sent out a mass message two days ago saying there’s a problem with accessing certain sites and they are working on it…so someone is aware of what is happening and they are fixing it at least for aol customers meanwhile, if you view a website via www.freeproxyserver.ca or similar proxy you can see the sites fine