# Why is my browser home page acting weird? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807 "2008-08-21T14:56:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/1 "2008-08-21T14:56:54Z")
My default home page is The NY Times. I started getting periodic messages saying that the browser was unable to load the page. Then it would load and immediately re-load. Now it just goes into continual refresh and won’t load at all, so I’ve had to change defaults. I can’t even visit the site without this happening. What the heck is going on? No other websites give me this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/2 "2008-08-21T16:01:09Z")
If your new default home page opens correctly, try navigating to the desired NYT page from links on their [home page](http://www.nytimes.com/), then set that page as your new home page. Sometimes sites make subtle changes to their address and forget to redirect the old ones, rendering your favorites and default home pages inoperative. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/3 "2008-08-21T16:11:14Z")
What browser are you using? I had a similar problem with a different site with Firefox 3, and the solution was to go to preferences-\> privacy-\> clear private data ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/4 "2008-08-21T17:03:23Z")
[QUOTE=Twoflower] What browser are you using? I had a similar problem with a different site with Firefox 3, and the solution was to go to preferences-\> privacy-\> clear private data [/QUOTE] It’s just IE 6.0. **Fear Itself** : I clicked on your link and the same thing happened. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/5 "2008-08-21T17:21:31Z")
Perhaps your hosts files has redirected [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com) . Open your hosts file at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts with Notepad. Look for any entries for [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com), and delete them. Save the hosts file, but do not save it as a TXT file; the name is just HOSTS, not HOSTS.TXT, or any other extension. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/6 "2008-08-21T19:32:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Perhaps your hosts files has redirected [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com) . Open your hosts file at c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts with Notepad. Look for any entries for [nytimes.com](http://nytimes.com), and delete them. Save the hosts file, but do not save it as a TXT file; the name is just HOSTS, not HOSTS.TXT, or any other extension. [/QUOTE] At the risk of sounding like the idiot I know myself to be, I can’t find that path. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/7 "2008-08-21T20:37:42Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] At the risk of sounding like the idiot I know myself to be, I can’t find that path. [/QUOTE] I assumed Windows XP; others are different. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/8 "2008-08-21T20:50:48Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] I assumed Windows XP; others are different. [/QUOTE] I’m using Windows XP. I tried using Notebook, went to c: There’s only one WINDOWS file shown, and it seems to only have outlook and a couple of other files in there. Can’t find any other Windows directory. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/9 "2008-08-21T21:56:28Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] I’m using Windows XP. I tried using Notebook, went to c: There’s only one WINDOWS file shown, and it seems to only have outlook and a couple of other files in there. Can’t find any other Windows directory. [/QUOTE] Sounds like you are not looking in the root of the C: drive. Open “My Computer”, open Local Drive C:, and look in the Windows/system32/drivers/etc directory. Right click on HOSTS, and select ‘open with’, and select Notepad. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/10 "2008-08-22T00:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] Sounds like you are not looking in the root of the C: drive. Open “My Computer”, open Local Drive C:, and look in the Windows/system32/drivers/etc directory. Right click on HOSTS, and select ‘open with’, and select Notepad. [/QUOTE] I finally found it in a folder called WINNT. Nothing in there about NY Times, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-browser-home-page-acting-weird/460807/11 "2008-08-22T23:48:31Z")
Bump. Anybody else have any ideas? C’mon, I know this board is full of computer geeks; help a brother out.