I Can't Search Yahoo
by Gary Woods

The weirdest problem I ever encountered on the Internet was suddenly I wasn't able to search Yahoo. Then, my wife wasn't able to get into her favorite game, Literati on Yahoo and this meant it was time for action.

The really weird part was that these symptoms only occurred on 2 of the 5 computers I have connected to my network. I replaced the switch, router, network card and even the cables on the effected computers all to no avail.

I then called Cox (my ISP) and Linksys the maker of the hardware and neither one of them had any idea of what was wrong. Finally I turned to Microsoft at 866-PCSAFETY.

The Tech Support person had me do what is called ping the sites that I was having trouble with, and guess what? The sites I pinged showed up with the wrong IP Addresses, which was the reason I couldn't see them. The tech suggested I had a Spybot lurking in my machines and gave me a website http://security.kolla.de/ This site has a free tool to help you find Spybots. The tool found all sorts of spies lurking in my computer, but specifically what was causing my inability to search Yahoo was a file called "hosts." I renamed hosts and all of a sudden I could search Yahoo.

These bots come from all kinds of sources so just to be safe download Spybot Search and Destroy and see whose visiting you.

If you have any suggestions or questions for me please drop me a note at garyandlaury@santabarbaraproperties.com or see my column on the Internet at http://www.santabarbaraproperties.com or call me at (805) 729-0910