On certain web pages, I am unable to view advertisments, such as bar
ads that appear on the top of a page, on the side, etc. It manifests
itself in two ways in Internet Explorer 6.0 (see below for IE version
details): One: where the ad would appear is instead a blank box with
an X in the upper left hand corner and next to it a hyperlink that
says "click here" (if the ad was supposed to link to a website). If I
click on that link, it brings me to a page that says "Action canceled.
Internet Explorer was unable to link to the Web page you requested."
Two: I receive the same "Action canceled" message where an ad should
appear with no hyperlink available. The message is cropped to fit in
the size of where the ad would appear. There are some ads that appear
just fine on the same page where ads don't appear. In other words, I
could could be looking at a website such as Rollingstone.com, and
perhaps 2 of the 5 ads on that page will not appear properly. It's not
that I care about looking at the ads, it just bothers me that the
pages are displaying improperly.

The same thing happens in Netscape 7.1 as follows... One: same as
above, but I am able to successfully navigate to the web page the
"click here" link is referring me to. Two: Instead of seeing an
"Action Canceled" message as described above, it is just white space
with no border where the ad would appear.

I also noticed that if I'm viewing an item on the website half.com, it
has these links on the bottom that refer you to items that are also
available on ebay. If I attempt to click on one of those links, I get
a page that says "page cannot be displayed". I double checked this on
my computer at work, and it has no trouble connecting to the referring
ebay web page. In Netscape, a window appears that says "the connection
was refused when attempted to contact xxx.xxxxx.xxx"

Since these issues are happening in both browsers, I am led to believe it's not
a browser issue.

I have all the necessary plugins installed like flash, shockwave, quicktime, etc.

I have Internet Explorer 6.0 with the following updates: Service Pack
1, Q305217, Q817177, Q832894, Q330994, Q831167. I installed these
updates in hopes that it would solve my problem, but I was not
successful. As mentioned, I also have the same problem on Netscape
7.1.

I am running Windows Professional 2000, 5.00.2195, SP4. I am not
networked - this is a home pc.

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Request for Question Clarification by majortom-ga on 20 Feb 2004 17:19 PST

Are you using Norton Antivirus, with Norton Internet Security?

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Clarification of Question by robin66-ga on 20 Feb 2004 17:30 PST

Yes, I am running Norton Antivirus 2003.

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Clarification of Question by robin66-ga on 20 Feb 2004 17:31 PST

To further clarify, I am running Norton Antivirus 2003, but I'm not
sure if I am running Internet Security. Is that a seperate software
package?

Hello robin66,

I had the exact same problem a few months ago and I am certain that I
know what the problem is.

1.) Hold down the Windows key and press the F key. (or open up your
search through Start -> Find -> Files and Folders, or Start ->
Search).

2.) For File name, type in: HOSTS

3.) Search your C drive.

4.) Delete or rename all files that are called HOSTS (they should
appear as capital letters) You could rename them to HOSTS.old, but
just deleting it will be perfectly safe as well. This file will be in
your \Windows folder somewhere, sometimes

5.) Your problem should be solved but you may need to restart the computer. 

Basically, what has happened is that a program or person has changed
the file to prevent certain domains from loading up. This is usually
done by redirecting traffic from this domains to 127.0.0.1 (which is
your own computer). Your browser tries to load up the page from a
server on your computer, which of course does not exist, so you get an
error message.

You can read a bit more about the HOSTS file here:
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/what_is_hosts.html

Please let me know if you need any clarifications!

tisme-ga


Search Strategy:

"HOSTS file"

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Clarification of Answer by tisme-ga on 20 Feb 2004 17:57 PST

"This file will be in your \Windows folder somewhere, sometimes"

should read: "This file will be in your \Windows folder somewhere,
sometimes in \Windows\Help"

tisme-ga

Wow!!!! This fixed my problem instantly!!! Who knew?? Thank you sooo much.

I found this fix searching the web, I couldn't play pogo because it
wouldn't connect to the game, i got the same "action canceled" Unable
to link to the web page error,,,i deleted the windows HOSTS files and
restarted the computer and the Pogo games loaded instantly,,,,thanks a
million for such a simple fix ,,, my computer is still under warranty
and all I ever got from the technical dept. was that i needed to do a
total restore on my computer, I said hogwash, i'm not starting over
with a new pc, I have too much on my computer to do a total reformat,
anyway, no one in any technical support group could fix my problem,
thank you for the great info........ozman1966

Terrific. The same problem has been bothering me for perhaps over a
month. I thought it had something to do with my Active-X Settings (for
IE6).

BTW, I found the "hosts" file (all LOWER Case) under
"C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc"...I guess it resides in different
places...

I changed it to hosts.old...and refreshed the IE6 Page I was having
problems with...

VOILA...It displayed everything like a charm...

Thank You so very much...

Thanks tisme-ga!  I was also able to fix the problem.  It was actually
affecting all of my broswers (IE, NS, Opera).  Thank you very much!!!

thanx ozman, it worked. i've been pulling my hair out for days now.
thought it had something to do with popup- or adblocker. whew!!!!!!!!
thanks again