LONGECITY

I'm having a problem getting into google, and it has been going on for several days. At first I just got, "The page cannot be displayed," but now I'm getting a weird "search.com" screen that says:



The same thing is happening when I try to get to gmail: "You tried www.gmail.com.com..." This is particularly distressing, because now I can't get my email. Oh, and I'm starting to see this with other things as well. I tried to see what would happen with a link I know didn't work, and I got the same thing--"You tried ssfdflslsl.com.com..."

I'm definitely NOT typing .com twice.

This really seems like a virus, but my virus detector hasn't found any. Also--the same thing is happening in all of my computers at home.

Anyone else having this problem, or do you have any idea what could be wrong? Thanks.

I haven't encountered this problem, so I am guessing it is something on your end.

Sounds like you are searching for google.com instead of typing it in your address bar. Either that or something has hijacked IE.

Probably best to try Firefox.

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm definitely not doing a search. I'm typing it into the address bar, as always. I now realize just how much I rely on google, for just about everything. Can anyone here recommend a comparable or better search engine?

Tell me about Firefox. I'd do a google search on it to find out about it, but...

Firefox is a browser, like Netscape or IE6.

Many consider it far more user friendly and glitch free but it can use IE's engine for some of its operations.

Firefox
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/

Have you tried installing googles add-on tool bar?

http://toolbar.googl...4/index_xp.html

I also think you might Windows update for a windows security check
http://toolbar.googl...4/index_xp.html

And if all else fails rebuild your browser, it does like something has hijacked your browser.

Lots of speculation lately about Google's censoring data especially videos. I use Yahoo quite often too and it is surprising what it will find that Google does not display. www.yahoo.com is the url. From their news displays I get the idea that Yahoo may not be so enamored of corporatism as Google.

Does sound like something has gone wrong on your end.

try doing like Laz said, uninstall and then reinstall it. But prefferably just go with firefox, cause like they say in ebonics, it be tha shznit fo real yo.

Thanks for all the advice.

Harvey--I think you're right about IE tacking on the ".com"--it's something I take for granted whenever I'm trying to get to a website and inadvertently OMIT the ".com" part of the address. But there's no need to add ".com" when referencing an address that already has one--and this is a new problem. When I just type "google" with no ".com", the error message appropriately shows the URL with just a single ".com"--but I still can't get to google.

I've tried all kinds of prefexis and suffixes on the alphabetic google (www..., http..., ...us, ...co.uk, etc.), and my google toolbar has also been rendered useless. The IP (numeric) addresses you listed WORK, and this makes me suspect that my system is associating google with an incorrect IP address. Since all four computers in my house have the same problem, I'm wondering if my cable company's DNS may be the culprit. Even if the problem has since been resolved, couldn't an incorrect IP address for google still reside in cache? Just an idea. I wonder if there's a way to find out the IP address that is actually used when I type "google.com" into my browser-- and more importantly, where the bogus address resides and how to correct it. I did a little command-line "ping" test on "google.com" and got back 64.233.187.99. This address goes to google, no problem. But apparently my computers are NOT using this "ping" IP address when google.com is keyed into the address bar. I wonder why not.

Sounds like you have some form of spyware redirecting you to other websites, I've had it in the past, it's pretty easy to fix manually if you know what to look for. [glasses]

Check out the "remedies and prevention" section here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyware

You need to create or edit your hosts file to correctly access google for you.

Just make sure the file contains these lines:

72.14.207.100 google.com
72.14.207.100 www.google.com

These are some possible locations the file will be located in:

Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts

Windows NT/2000/XP Pro c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Windows XP Home c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Make sure if you create the file yourself using a program such as notepad, that you save it without an extension. It's just hosts not hosts.txt etc.

Harvey-did what you advised, and it looks like a local setup problem.

Lunar-I added lines to the hosts file as you suggested, and promptly got a "malicious invader" message from my spyware, which went ahead and removed the (my) offending additions. So I disabled my spyware and added the lines again. Ran a couple of googles--which WORKED! I then enabled my spyware, and wouldn't you know it, it knew all about my sneak "attack" and deleted my entries. BUT, the good news is--google STILL works!!! Maybe the good IP address got into my cache memory. I still can't get to my gmail or utilize my google toolbar, but I'm making progress.

karomesis and others, I appreciate the tip about firefox. I've heard few if any complaints about it, so it's tempting, especially after this latest ordeal.

Thanks to all who helped me out.