Opera only browses to one website ( msn.com ) !!!!

hello
this is the most strange problem i ever had with opera

my opera 10.50 used to work fine and i upgraded to 11.52 and everything was ok with no problems at all
but today when i open opera i can not browse any site at all except for msn.com

i changed nothing in the system and i didnt install any program or firewall and no virus in my system

opera simply stopped browsing any site but msn.com >>>>> thats really weird !! do you think so ok i ever fortmated my computer and installed opera again and ths same thing ,, no browsing fr any site but msn.com
what is the problem

i have windows xp with service back 3

help i like opera

If you browse using IE or some other browser, does the same problem occur? Also, is msn.com your homepage for your Opera browser?

Also, I suggest changing your topic title from "Opera Please Help" to something more descriptive like "Opera only browses to one website" or something similar. Otherwise, you risk having this topic closed by the mods because of a non-descriptive title.

If you browse using IE or some other browser, does the same problem occur?
no sir : i have IE and Firefox and opera all of them were working properly

is msn.com your homepage for your Opera browser?
no . i have the home page " blank" for IE and it is Google for firefox and "blank for opera

today i tried a clean install for opera 11.60 beta .... and guess what ? yup it didn't work either .. can not browse any web site except msn.com

Meaning you cannot browse to sites like, http://google.com ?

Or not to sites like http://209.85.148.105 ?

If the second one works try this:
Start-> run -> type "cmd" -> run -> type "ipconfig /flushdns" -> enter

Meaning you cannot browse to sites like, http://google.com ?
Or not to sites like http://209.85.148.105 ?

no sir i can not browse any site at all now ., the only site i could open was msn.com and now i can not open it any more i dunno whats going on i almost tried everything .. i guess it's time to move to another browser .. shame ; Opera was nice and fast browser but with evey new version tons of troubles pops up

... moving to fire fox thank alot guys

Did you even try one of my links?

Because there is no reason at all (I can think of) what makes Opera only browse to msn.com ignoring all url input.
Except: DNS-redirects and virus infection, or wrong proxy settings.

Did you even try one of my links?

YES .. i did and nothing open any longer .. i think they should have stopped upgrading opera and releasing new sucks versions with millions of bugs after opera 10 ............... viva firefox

Any error message? Certain errors in the content blocker file urlfilter.ini could do this, but you'd get an error message about the website being blocked.

no error message at all ,,, i simply type any site and nothing happen just white blank page it doesnt browse any site at all except for msn.com >> how weird is that !!!!

i removed the eset smart security i thought it could be the problem ... nothing happened the same thing cnt browse any site


what is content blocker file urlfilter.ini and where can i find that ?

The content blocker allows Opera to block certain files or servers, you'd use it to remove an ad banner from a page if you find it annoying. The list of blocked addresses is stored in a file named urlfilter.ini located in your profile, you can go to (menu) > Help > About Opera to see the location of your profile (listed there as "Opera directory"). Though you could test it by right-clicking in the page and choosing "Edit Site Preferences" (after you've already typed an address). In Site Preferences there's an option to disable content blocking for the current site, if you disable it and then reload the page and nothing happens that isn't your problem.

Moderator edit: This comment has been removed for breaching our terms of use.

there nothing wrong with opera , the problem is you.

you should have tried CMD - pings to some sites, and if that worked than you needed clean install , therefore total uninstall and that is done be deleting opera files from program files and from local user profile. (manually)

dear Angelofserenity

i tried everything ..
clean install .
total uninstall and recealn install
pinged the sites that didnt open with opera 11 and there is connection to those sites
i even formated my pc and installed only opera 11 and didnt work
total uninstall again with deleting the ( ALL ) opera files from the registry manually
i deleted opera files from program files and from local user profile. manually
and it simply didnt work >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> only msn.com works

however thank you all for your help .. opera 9 is working just fine and i dont want to suffer with opera 10 or 11 or 12b again ..

the problem is me !! yeah you got that right

thanks

@goool1 there's definitely a problem somewhere in your end, not in Opera (since other users aren't experiencing this issue), I guess that was what he meant.

you know what funny, there are people that have the exact opposite problem, ))))

they can navigate all sites except msn.com , have a good laugh.

http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-2000/cant-browse-msncom-only/9340.html

rafaelluik wrote:
there's definitely a problem somewhere in your end, not in Opera (since other users aren't experiencing this issue), I guess that was what he meant.

I am actually having exactly the same problem which started on 15 December. What ever I do in Opera after a few clicks I ends up teh the russian search engine Yandex. I am running AVG and Ad Aware. I cleaned the computer with ComboFix which worked. However today 6 days later the problem is back. The problem is only related to Opera IE runs OK.

Hans

hi there

u can try one portable version of opera, this is perfectly clean and portable so no interference.

http://www.opera-usb.com/operausben.htm

if this is working then you oprea install has problem.

By the way you probably have a virus or rootkit.

Have to lean towards what Angel stated, this is or sounds like typical problems caused by root-kits and other infections. Reminds me of the ZeroAccess infection come to think of it.

i tried the portable version ..http://www.opera-usb.com/operausben.htm .. didnt work

i scanned my pc .. no infections .. no viruses

i dont know what is rootkit

Originally posted by Angelofserenity:

u can try one portable version of opera, this is perfectly clean and portable so no interference.

Opera already supplies it's own portable version. In the normal installer select Options and change "Install for" to Stand-alone installation (USB).

Originally posted by goool1:

but today when i open opera i can not browse any site at all except for msn.com

If you open opera:config#Proxy|HTTPserver, does that field contain anything? If so, try clearing it, and pressing the Save button below.

Originally posted by hanmol:

Originally posted by rafaelluik:

there's definitely a problem somewhere in your end, not in Opera (since other users aren't experiencing this issue), I guess that was what he meant.

I am actually having exactly the same problem which started on 15 December. What ever I do in Opera after a few clicks I ends up teh the russian search engine Yandex.

You're not experiencing the same issue I was referring to. No other users are experiencing the same issue as you AFAIK, again this is only in your end.
What are those "few clicks"? There are many things that could affect your default search engine option (the network administrator could even redirect queries from other search engines to Yandex), so it's hard to help with no more details.

i believe the problems are related.

here is a recent talk about the same problem

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3573679?start=0&tstart=0

so make sure
#proxy is off
#tcp ip v6 is off
#dns are ok
#try ping
# try brosing via ip instead of web addresss to avoid DNS ( maybe dns server is infected)

Just in case it's virus/spyware/malware/rootkit-related, here are some things you can try:
(would be funny for a virus to only let you load msn.com though. But, you could have had a virus and removed it where it left things broken)

For WinXP (basically the same for Vista/Win7 though except for locations):

* In the control panel, goto "Network Connections". Right-click on your LAN connection and goto properties. Select TCP/IP in the list and click "properties". Make sure "obtain automatically" is select for both options.

* In the control panel, goto "Internet Options". On the "Connections" tab, click "LAN Settings" and make sure "use proxy" is not checked.

* Open "C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" with a text editor (like Notepad). Make sure the only entry is:

127.0.0.1       localhost

* In the control panel, goto "windows firewall" and reset it to defaults on the advanced tab.

* In Opera (use the "standalone installation" option in the installer to install to a folder on your desktop), make sure turbo is turned off. Also, goto "Ctrl + F12 -> advanced -> Network -> proxy servers". Make sure "Use manual proxy configuration" is selected, make su re all fields are empty and make sure all checkboxes are unchecked.

* As said, make sure "ctrl + F12 -> advanced -> content -> blocked content" is empty. And, for good measure, close down Opera and delete urlfilter.ini in the preferences folder. Also, if you use Opera Link, make sure you're not syncing the content blocker ("Menu -> Synchronize Opera -> configure").

* Goto opera:plugins and disable every plug-in.

* In addition to checking for viruses with your favorite anti-virus software, download and install and update malwarebytes (use the "download now" link). Then, do a *full* system scan and remove whatever it finds.

Check all those things every time Windows starts up until you figure out the problem.

* If that still doesn't help, in the control panel, goto user accounts and create a new administrator account. Once you do, log out of your account and go in it. See if Opera works O.K. there. Also, try scanning with malware bytes using that account.

* If things are still messed up after all that, press F8 when the computer starts up (right after the bios screen is done showing) to get the Windows boot options menu. Choose safe mode with networking. Once loaded, see if Opera works like that. And, if possible, scan with malwarebytes in safe mode (I think it lets you but the realtime protection part of it won't load).

* If that doesn't help, you might want to check for rootkits and other problems with advanced tools (at your own risk):

Rookit buster
root repeal
cwshredder
combofix (the blue download links, not links in ads)
Gmer rootkit finder
Dr. Web (has rootkit finder)
hijackthis

* Also, right-click on the taskbar and choose "task manager" and switch to the processes tab. See if you see any that sound shady or research ones you don't know about.

huge thanks for all of you guys for the great help and concern about my problem
THE PROBLEM IS SOLVED NOW AND I AM SO HAPPY MY OPERA IS BACCCCCKKKK TO WORK

burnout426 ( HUGE THANKS )
Angelofserenity ( HUGE THANKS )
rafaelluik
nafmo
Swapnil99pro
Tweakerz
hanmol
sgunhouse
iemanddos
blackbird71

i just deleted the lines in the hosts file and i only put 127.0.0.1 localhost and tried and it worked like magic i did only this step and everything worked .. that even solved another problem i had which is the voice and camera icons in yahoo are disabled and after i changed the hosts file they're back to work now and i am SOOOOOO HAPPPPPPPEY NOW i've suffering this problem for months and now it is over thank you sooooo much

this is what i had in the old hosts file

102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host
127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com

was this the problem i really would like to learn and know if it was ?

thank you again guys all of you thank you thank you thank you .. you were such great help specially burnout426 and Angelofserenity

Originally posted by goool1:

102.54.94.97 38.25.63.10

Those 2 lines should be commented out with a # at the beginning. Were they and you just didn't post the beginning '#'?

Originally posted by goool1:

127.0.0.1 localhost

That's the default that you should see. It's commented out by default on Win7/Vista.

Originally posted by goool1:

::1 localhost

That's fine too and is the ipv6 version of the previous. It's only present on Vista/Win7 by default (and commented out by default even). On WinXP, it's usually not there, but maybe you turned on ipv6 support on the command line in WinXP. If not, maybe that was causing a problem too.

Originally posted by goool1:

127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com

Not sure why that was there, but that was probably overriding the correct 127.0.0.1 localhost one.

Originally posted by goool1:

was this the problem i really would like to learn and know if it was ?

Looks like it and seems to have been since things are working now.

127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com I see when someone installs Adobe and doesn't want to have it try to authenticate, keygens often have an option to patch the hosts file to block illegal Adobe software from "phoning home". I am not accusing you of anything I am just saying this is normally why this entry exists, it is usually not the only one though so whatever nasty you got a hold of that altered your hosts file could very well have added this and the other entries. Glad you have resolved your problem(s)!

Glad you got your problem solved.

Originally posted by goool1:

was this the problem i really would like to learn and know if it was ?

Even I am curious to know this.

* I would have recommended checking out HOSTS file but how can IE and Firefox keep working while Opera does not?
* Your HOSTS file contains the same entries as mine - with the exception of activate.adobe.com and ::1 localhost (since I don't use IPv6). Once on a computer I have even had activate.adobe.com and it did not cause any effect on my browsing.

Originally posted by Swapnil99pro:

* I would have recommended checking out HOSTS file but how can IE and Firefox keep working while Opera does not? * Your HOSTS file contains the same entries as mine - with the exception of activate.adobe.com and ::1 localhost (since I don't use IPv6). Once on a computer I have even had activate.adobe.com and it did not cause any effect on my browsing.

For Opera's built-in mail cilent at least, it queries the hostname (affected by hostfile) for message-id generation. When there's an error in the host file, Opera mail breaks while other mail clients don't. It's possible that there's something similar going on with the browser part where it queries the hostname and doesn't handle errors in the host file well. Don't know. Yngve would probably know.

Another possibility is that your connection is still running through some rootkit proxy and it just didn't like the host file the way it was before. Would still check for spyware and such.

I also just tested on winxp with those entries (restarted first) in the host file and had no problem in Opera, so...

Double check your system is clean using this: http://www.surfright.nl/en You can activate the 30 day trial to remove anything found or just use it for reference, I like this app since it uses multiple scanning engines. It will also remove rootkits and proxy servers and other such issues. Obviously there are many scanners and solutions but this is one I have found to work well as a double check that things are fairly well cleaned up.

Originally posted by burnout426:

It's possible that there's something similar going on with the browser part where it queries the hostname and doesn't handle errors in the host file well. Don't know. Yngve would probably know.

But the fact is that there isn't any mistake in the HOSTS file entries. Just like you said that the entries in his HOSTS file work fine with Windows XP, they work fine here too - both on Windows 7 SP1 and Windows XP SP3.

Originally posted by Swapnil99pro:

But the fact is

I posted that before I tested on Winxp, so...

hello again dear friends

now am 100% sure the problem was with the hosts file
burnout426 THHHHAAANNNKKK YOOUUUUUU buddy

this is the complete hosts file i had before :
# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com

with the above hosts file data my opera doesnt work also the voice and video cam icons in yahoo are disabled and cannot make audio or video chat even the skype wont open >>>

now when i removed everything in the hosts file as my dear buddy burnout426 told me and kept only 127.0.0.1 localhost everything back to normal .. opera running .. skype running .. yahoo voice and video icons back online ( enabled ) and all the problems i had since 3 months are solved now
oh my god i tried everything everythingggggg and i was trying since 3 months and i thought it might be my ESET nod firewall is making troubles but it is not .. its simply the hosts file
thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

as for 127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com .... yes i am using that as a step of cracking adobe cs5 since i cannot afford an original copy in my country its 70% of my monthly income
dear Tweakerz

and yes dear burnout426 i removed the # when in my 11th post

thank you again all of you specially burnout426 and this time not for solving my problem but for explaining the hosts file lines

btw : i deleted the whole file hosts ( just trying and making sure ) and restarted my pc and things are still working fine now i undeleted it and i put inside it only 127.0.0.1 localhost

I am again not judging or accusing you of anything (and you have admitted it anyways so no worries) but remember if you are using the hosts file to block communications as it relates to adobe then without the 127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com line you may run into some issues with your CS5. I am glad you have your issues resolved, kinda bad it was something you have been having issues with for many months.

I've been following this topic right from the start and I just have to say this...
Burnout, you're a god...no comment...

Tweakerz no worries brother .. i know u r not judging or accusing me of anything .. once i can afford legal copy of flash c5 i will buy it

burnout426 thank you brother you solved my opera and yahoo and skype and also ultrasurf problem u r awesome

hello

finally i found someone who is suffering same problem i am suffering with opera except for my opera only browse yahoo.com

i followed every suggested solution in this post and my opera worked for on time only , after restarting my pc opera back to open Google.com only

i am using windows xp sp3
eset smart security
no virus in my system

what could it be ?

Originally posted by greatmanoman:

i followed every suggested solution in this post and my opera worked for on time only , after restarting my pc opera back to open Google.com only

Sounds like whatever you changed that worked was reverted on startup of windows. What specific thing did you change that you think worked?

Also, did you try scanning for spyware/malware with other tools or are you just assuming that eset will find everything that could possibly be bad?

If eset has a firewall and or web shield, see if they're interfering.

Did you really try a standalone installation of Opera?

Also, while Opera is messed up, press F12 in it and make sure "Enable proxy servers" is unchecked. If it's checked, it probably means your system proxy settings are being changed and Opera is automatically detecting and using them.

1 - i checked my system with nod and with bit defender and with malewarebyts there is no bad files ( trojans - spyware -malware - viruses ... etc ) my system is clean

2 - no proxy used ( not enabled )

3 - tried standalone installation of Opera ( not working )

4 - i disabled eset firewall ( just in case ) assuming its what blocking opera from browsing

** but i found a drop down menu located in the opera menu bar :
tools > appearance > preference > buttons

the drop down menu comes with 4 choices
1 - identify as Opera
2 - identify as Firefox
3 - identify as Internet explorer
4 - identify as chrome explorer
( those are the browser i have )

when i added this drop down menu to opera explorer and chose identify as Internet explorer or identify as firefox or identify as chrome explorer opera works fine but when chose identify as opera it stops working ... i am really confused about it now and cannot locate the problem