SillyDog701

[Indyrod]

As of yesterday on my dialup, I cannot reach ANY web sites, only my ISP mail works. I'm running NS 4.8 with Win95. My ISP told me I probably have spyware installed (which is blocking port 80) and I have no idea how that could have happened or if that is even the problem. They said they have NOT changed DSN servers numbers, so the problem is obviously something else. I've downloaded "Spybot" and when I get home I'll see what that does. Does anybody have any similar problems being infected with spyware using NS 4.8, and not being able to reach any web sites? This problem happened over night, and it's driving me nuts. thanks

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; SBC)

[Don_HH2K]

Are you able to access anything with another browser like IE? I doubt it would be blocking only Netscape 4, and whyever certain spyware would be targeting Netscape 4 is beyond me as hardly anybody uses it anymore.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Donzilla/0.6b (like Netscape/7.2)

[Indyrod]

I haven't tried my IE4 yet, but I will when I get home. According to my ISP, it doesn't make any difference what browser is being used. The Spyware affects Windows OS regardless of the browser, so they say.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; SBC)

[Don_HH2K]

That would be true, but it would also determine if it was spyware or not. This doesn't sound like spyware, because spyware wants you to browse around so that it can collect information about you. If you can't, what good would it do for the people that make it?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Donzilla/0.6b (like Netscape/7.2)

[Indyrod]

If it doesn't sound like Spyware, then why would I not be able to reach any websites, even after rebooting? In the past, that was caused by my ISP changing DSN addresses (Primary, Secondary), which I put in manually. They say the DNS servers have not changed. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; SBC)

[Don_HH2K]

I'm not ruling out that it indeed is spyware, I'm just saying it's improbable that it is. But, from what we have, we can conclude some of this:
* This isn't a Windows Networking problem, as you can still get out to access your e-mail
* This could be a problem on your ISP's end, since you can still access your ISP's mail account.

Speaking of the second note, try seeing if you can access your ISP's homepage. That will tell for sure if it's on their end. I remember once, with The World back in '93 or so, that they said it wasn't their problem, but I found out that I could still get into (at the time what was) the family's e-mail address and their hompeage, turns out they changed something without telling me.

Getting back to the first note I made, it's probably not Windows, because Windows 95's take on networking is "run one massive API for it". So, HTTP, IMAP, POP3, FTP, etc... are all run as one, while on NT/2000/XP run separate protocols in different APIs.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Donzilla/0.6b (like Netscape/7.2)

[Indyrod]

Thanks DL for your comments.

A new developement.

Almost all of this ISP's customers with Win98 or Win95 are experiencing the same problem since yesterday, regardless of browser. (I just talked to the ISP techy). He is running tests on their own computers running the older OS machines, and it's doing the same thing. I asked him if he tried a totally different "dialup" company, and he did, and had the SAME problem. This was a true test to rule out an ISP problem. He has no idea what is going on, since it's only affecting the older OS's. He's even run the Spyware cleanups, and it doesn't help. He thinks its some weird thing that's happened with the Internet, because he can't find any possible reason for it. (maybe it's sunspots)

Anyway, it might be the best thing for me, to do absolutely nothing for now. And see if it clears up by itself. Doubtful I know, but I've seen weirder problems just go away.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; SBC)

[Don_HH2K]

If that is the case, with older browsers, now might be a good time to upgrade to Mozilla. After all, Netscape 4.8 is buggy, crashy, and has lots of unpatched security vulnerabilities (even though it's only rated "Moderately Critical" by Secunia) since it's no longer being developed.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Donzilla/0.6b (like Netscape/7.2)

[Indyrod]

yea I know, that's what I hear everytime I post anything here. And I posted at this forum long before any of you were ever here. I used to help people with NS 4.04 problems. When the forum was revamped, my old post count was gone, so it doesn't show. I've been around for a long time, a dedicated NS user from day one. I can't upgrade my browsers anymore than what they are until I buy a new computer. There are other people like me, believe me. So just try and give us a hand, instead of telling us to upgrade to something our operating system can't handle.

BTW, thanks for your help, it was appreciated.

Lastly, there is nothing wrong with NS 4.8, the problem is with the idiot webmasters that design their sites for IE. NS has the best mail client there is, in my opinion.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; SBC)

[Mandrake]

Lastly, there is nothing wrong with NS 4.8, the problem is with the idiot webmasters that design their sites for IE. NS has the best mail client there is, in my opinion.

What about web developers that produce sites that comply with web standards? It's not their fault Netscape 4.8 doesn't support CSS, HTML 4 or XHTML properly.

So just try and give us a hand, instead of telling us to upgrade to something our operating system can't handle.

K-Meleon is a very light web browser (loaded instantly on an old dual 300mhz P2, 512 ram, XP Pro) that includes the functionality of much larger web browsers like Firefox or Mozilla. There's no excuse really, for not having a browser that supports web standards like CSS and HTML 4.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050220 Firefox/1.0.1

[David Wonn]

There's no excuse really, for not having a browser that supports web standards like CSS and HTML 4.

You're assuming that everyone has administrative rights on the computers they use to browse the Internet. Some of us do log in from work, school, or other public locations, and do not have the luxury of installing our favorite browsers. At work, I am limited to Netscape Communicator or IE (if one considers that a "choice.")

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.78 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U)

[Mandrake]

There's no excuse really, for not having a browser that supports web standards like CSS and HTML 4.

You're assuming that everyone has administrative rights on the computers they use to browse the Internet. Some of us do log in from work, school, or other public locations, and do not have the luxury of installing our favorite browsers. At work, I am limited to Netscape Communicator or IE (if one considers that a "choice.")

Even IE 5/5.5/6.0 have support for basic web standards like CSS and HTML 4.01.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050220 Firefox/1.0.1

[Indyrod]

Even IE 5/5.5/6.0 have support for basic web standards like CSS and HTML 4.01.

Promoting IE on a Netscape forum huh?

You remind me of these young techies these days that think everybody has the latest and the greatest or they should be sent off in space. I've gone as far as I can go with NS 4.8 and IE 4.0, because I'm still running Win95. Yea, I know there's tricks and patches you can make to extend the boundries, but with P2 233mhz and 64 megs of Ram, it's not too feasible just to be able to access some sites I don't care that much about anyway. And yes, I will be upgrading my computer sooner rather than later, but I don't want to screw up the stable OS I have now, thank you very much.

Back on topic, my problem has been resolved and my surfing is back on track. The ISP did something, but they won't tell me what, and the only change I made, was to let their server assign the DNS numbers, instead of me specifying them. I've been with this ISP for seven years, and hard coding the DNS numbers were the instructions at the time. And no, their DNS numbers did not change. Soooo, who in the hell knows what the problem was, but it sure as hell wasn't Spyware.

Just for old times sake, I remember when Fulvio was a newbie.

EDIT: Changed DSN to DNS

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.8 [en] (Win95; U)

[Mandrake]

No, I don't promote IE usually, but given the choices of IE 6 w/ SP1 or SP2 and Netscape 4.x ... it's not really a hard choice.

I've gone as far as I can go with NS 4.8 and IE 4.0, because I'm still running Win95.

Not true. Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla 1.7.5 and K-Meleon would run just as fast as Netscape 4.x would on that PC, or possibly even faster in the case of K-Meleon.

Incidentally, I think you mean that your ISP was having DNS issues. DSN is a totally different subject.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[Indyrod]

No, I don't promote IE usually, but given the choices of IE 6 w/ SP1 or SP2 and Netscape 4.x ... it's not really a hard choice.

I've gone as far as I can go with NS 4.8 and IE 4.0, because I'm still running Win95.

Not true. Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla 1.7.5 and K-Meleon would run just as fast as Netscape 4.x would on that PC, or possibly even faster in the case of K-Meleon.

Incidentally, I think you mean that your ISP was having DNS issues. DSN is a totally different subject.

yes of course, I meant DNS. Was typing on that old machine and you never know what may come out.

I thought Firefox, Mozilla, and K-Meleon all required at least Win98 (and more RAM). I've checked on all of them in the past, and that was what stopped me from giving them a try. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, because I believe those are the minimum requirements.

BTW, I love your "Ring" avatar. Very cool... Hope you have seen the Japanese original "Ringu", because it blows the American remake out of the water. I love the remake, but the original is much scarier and creepier. That's pretty much true for all the Japanese horror films being remade in Hollywood.

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; SBC)