since we loaded XP we are unable to access a number of web-sites.
globo.com/esperanca in particular.

I can't access it either. I can't read spanish, but it
seems to be saying that the page sought is not encountered,
or found. It would seem it has been removed from that site.

It may not be an XP problem - I cannot access this page using Windows
98.  And it's a 99% certainty that it's a "this page cannot be found"
message.

Keying "esperanca" in the search box does not help, nor going back to
the main page (which reverts to <http://www.globo.com/>)

What other pages can't you find?

It's a "page not found" message alright. Using an online translator,
it translated to:

"Page não found

To page that você tries não exists servants gives Globe us.com Please,
it verifies você corretamente digitou or endereço and tente outra
time."

It's possible that "esperanca" is mispelled, is not the actual link,
or has been removed from the server.

Hi 27skidoo,
This page seems to have been recently taken offline.  A Google
translation of the message from Portuguese confirms that it's a Page
Not Found Message.  A cache of the page can be found on Google.

secret901-ga