Problem Description
When you enter the URL www.hotmail.com into Internet Explorer you get an error page and the URL changes. You have no problem accessing Hotmail from another computer such as your office or a friends.
Common Symptoms
- You enter www.hotmail.com into your browser and you get the error “The page cannot be displayed”
- The address changes to “http:///?%20www.hotmail.com” or similar
- You have no problem accessing your Hotmail from another computer
- Trying to boot into Safe Mode results in a Blue Screen
Explanation
The above is occurring due to an infection of your operating system. A virus and/or spyware has infected key files within the OS and is causing the above symptoms. Continue below for your solution.
Solutions
Solution 1 – Fix your HOSTS file
Spyware may have altered your hosts file. Follow these steps to put it right.
- Click Start > Run
- Type c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc and click OK
- In Windows Explorer, locate the hosts file and double click it
- Edit this file and sure the contents of the file is identical to the screenshot below. The only active line should be 127.0.0.1 localhost
- You can ignore the first 17 lines as these are commented out with a pound/hash symbol
- Remove any other lines, Save & Close the file
If the file doesn’t open directly you will be prompted to ‘Open With’. Choose Notepad or WordPad and click OK
