http:///?%20 - New Info on this problem...

[fourpastmidnight]

Hey everyone:

I know that there are literally a gazillion threads on this http:///?%20 problem, but here's some more things I found with this problem.

First of all, some have suggested this isn't spyware or adware, or that it's something to do with a Microsoft patch, or that your search settings are messed up...whatever.

I believe strongly it is caused by spyware. I run SpyBot S&D and AdAware and have used both to clean my system. I also manually go in to a lot of areas and double check the work. I know what should be there, and what shouldn't, but obviously I'm missing something.

This problem does not occur just on my machine, but also on other machines that have been wrecked by spyware. I have manually reset the search pages in the registry and through Internet Explorer itself. I have reset my IE settings to default numerous times (both Privacy, Adavanced options, and cleared temp files, cookies, and cache, as well as Personal Settings (i.e. emptied auto-fill-in web-forms info, etc)). I have also deleted my Zones information in the registry to let IE recreate good copies of those. So IE is clean and updated to the hilt with the latest updates (except those released yesterday ;) ), but I've been dealing with this problem for over a year.

I believe it may have something to do with a LSP (layered service provider), but attempts to find any problems with that and fix them have been unsuccessful (even using LSPFix from kelleys-corner.com). LSP fixers have found no problems! In any event, I am no longer able to browse Microsoft.com, log onto MSN messenger or any passport sites, unable to log on to www.discovercard.com, and recently, I'm unable to log on to other financial websites, though nothing has changed much.

I have also reinstalled winsock2, btw. So as you can see, I have run the gamut, but I am still having this problem. By the way, I don't use IE address bar to search. When I first started having this problem, I would type into the address bar "www.mapquest.com" (without quotes) and IE would display the "Page Cannot be Displayed" error and the address bar would contain "http:///?%20/www.mapquest.com". Mysteriously, a few days later, without having made any changes, I could browse mapquest again. But I still get this from time-to-time when browsing. Even if I type in "http://www.mapquest.com", IE would display "Page cannot be displayed" and the address bar would change to "http:///?%20/www.mapquest.com", so it's not like a search was being done.

Any thoughts? Has anyone figured this out conclusively???

Regards,

fourpastmidnight

Microsoft Certified Professional

Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Professional

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Sorry, I don't know anything about this. But: have you tried the Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta software? It does detect some things that Ad-aware and SpyBot do not.

[nellie2]

We have had a few queries about this one but have never managed to get to the bottom of it.

However I did find this click here and have been waiting for someone else with that problem to come along to see if it works

[fourpastmidnight]

pwillener: the Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta, huh? No, I haven't tried that, and personally, have been afraid to try it. MS and beta don't usually instill a whole bunch of confidence in me...hehe. Anyway, I read some articles on a virus that disables it, but, I'm behind a firewall. Just one thing, does MS Anti-Spyware conflice with SpyBot or AdAware in anyway? Do they work well together? I have nothing else to try, so I may give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestion.

nellie2: Thanks for the link. I did down load that registry "hack", too, because it looked promising, but honestly, I haven't tried it yet. I guess I'll give that a shot as well.

Thank you both for your suggestions. I'll let you know if they worked or not... I can't believe that MS hasn't really had anything to say about the problem. No wonder why FireFox is eating up their market share for Internet browsers!!

[-pops-]

MS antispyware does work in the presence of AdAware and Spybot S&D so there is no problem there.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Not everybody is happy with the MSAS beta software, but it is amazingly stable, probably because it has been in full release by the company who developed it. MS has merely adapted the UI layout (and disabled support for Win95), then put it out as a beta release.

And same here, as -pops- wrote, no problem with Ad-aware or Spybot S&D.