Page Cannot be displayed?!

Hi I have been wanting to register my home edition for quite some time now but everytime I go to register it tells me this page cannot be displayed. I have even tried going there whitout using that link… google and avast same thing… as a matter of fact any anti-virus website is unavailable from my computer… ???
Very confusing… Could this be a virus or something? I need help hehe

And also when and if I register my avast will my @ at the bottom right come? I find it strange that it won’t come up even if I’m scanning :o

Which firewall do you use?
Is ashWebSv.exe (the WebShield executable of avast) allowed to connect into the firewall settings?
Which is your oprerational system? Any other antivirus installed? Or other security software?
I do not understand your 2nd post, can you rephrase?

You might have a “Hosts” file stored on your HD that is stopping you from going to that site. When you get the ‘Page can not be displayed’, right-click anywhere on that page, then in the pop-up, choose ‘properties’. Look at the link. Is there a “res” (restricted or reserved) in front of that link? If so - you have a Hosts file stored in your Windows system directory keeping your from going to that site.

Many Trojans / viruses create a Hosts file to prevent the user from getting help from many AV (anti-virus) vendors.

Which link have you been trying?

This works for me avast! 4 Home Registration you could try pasting the URL into a new window or tab and see if it works like that http://www.avast.com/i_kat_207.php?lang=ENG


You might have a “Hosts” file stored on your HD that is stopping you from going to that site. When you get the ‘Page can not be displayed’, right-click anywhere on that page, then in the pop-up, choose ‘properties’. Look at the link. Is there a “res” (restricted or reserved) in front of that link? If so - you have a Hosts file stored in your Windows system directory keeping your from going to that site.

Many Trojans / viruses create a Hosts file to prevent the user from getting help from many AV (anti-virus) vendors.

Your exactly right! Thank You :slight_smile: But what can I do to fix it… any ideas?
Would this explain why no viruses ever come up when I scan… cause that I found a little odd.

Yes I can paraphrase :slight_smile:
You know the little icons on your taskbar… (at the bottom right hand side… in case there’s another name for it)
Well I don’t know why but I don’t know where My A for Avast is… You know like that thing that turns in circles kind of telling you that your pc is being scanned…

How’s that :wink:

You can open the following file
C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
into Notepad, copy and paste it here :slight_smile:

Having gone back through the thread, a little light bulb has gone on.

What you are describing above is totally unrelated with not being able to access the avast web site, did you try those links I posted, you didn’t say?

There are a few possible reasons that the avast icon isn’t displaved on the system tray:

  1. It is hidden when Inactive and you have ticked Hide Inactive Icons in the Start button Properties, Taskbar.
  2. Did you have another AV installed, if so what?
  3. Do you have any other security software? SpySweeper previously used to detect the avast display icon and removed the startup entry so it was gone.
  4. Are you getting any error messages relating to avast when you start?
  1. Nope not hidden…
  2. I’ve always had Avast… But I did have to uninstall and re-download it Because I thought there had to be viruses on my comp haha 8)
  3. The only other security Software I have is Ad-Aware… I always thought they worked hand in hand
  4. Not a single error message ever Came up

Also I did try those links you gave me… still Page Cannot be Displayed :-\

I right clicked on it and then properties and that did come up as res for restricted… So that think about the host must be right…

What if I try another browser like mozilla or something… Do you think that might work?

C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Umm what do you mean? :-[

And thank you guys very much for helping me out!

If so - you have a Hosts file stored in your Windows system directory keeping your from going to that site.

So this is my problem… I wonder how I can get the Hosts out of my Hard Drive ???

:slight_smile: Fightback84 :

 You do NOT want to remove your computer's "Hosts
 File"; it is there as an extra layer of defense though
 spyware and/or adware can get in there. The easiest
 way to review the info in your Hosts File AND to take
 action against anything that is there that should not
 be there is to use a FREE program called "Hosts File
 Reader" which comes in a zipped format ( an unzipping
 utility/application/program is needed on your computer ) ;
 download, then install from :
 http://members.accessbee.com/mitch/HostsFileReader.zip
 Most "Hosts File" have ONLY 1 entry.
 Unless you have used a program that has legitimately
 added entries to your "Hosts File", you will probably
 want to use HostsFileReader's "Restore Default" setting.

I don’t want that you remove the file, just check if the contents are similar to this:

[i]# Copyright © 1993-1999 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[/i]

fightback84,

Try SHUTTING your computer down. Leave it down for about 5 mins. Then start it up and see if you still see “Page cannot be displayed” when you try to go to ANY url.

What error messages are displayed when the page can’t be displayed?
Are you able to browse other web pages or does it only effect avast.com?

If it is only avast.com then it is possible that there is an entry in the hosts file as people are suggesting, that blocks access to certain AV sites.

I finally fixed it! I took the advice to get Host File Reader and reset default… all of a sudden I was able to get my registration done :smiley:

What it was; wasn’t that I couldn’t get any pages displayed it was that I couldn’t get any anti-virus websites to come up ???

But I still don’t see my avast icon at the bottom right so I’m still not sure if it’s working properly…

You all have been a great help 8)

Everyone should have a “Hosts” file, but what’s is stored there may be different. You should open your Hosts file with Notepad or Wordpad to see if there is a long list of entries. Unless you use a Hosts file on purpose (like I do - see below) it should be fairly short like the example posted above.

The Hosts file is used by Windows to check for direct addressing before doing a DNS look up. This saved some time when the computers didn’t run as fast as they do today. The design of checking the Hosts file is still there and Windows always checks to see if the URL you enter or click on is referenced in your ‘Hosts’ file. If you’ve been infected with something that alters your ‘Hosts’ file, the address for Avast, McAfee, Symantec, Nortons, etc. may be referenced to 127.0.0.1 - which is the local host or your computer. If that’s the case, you’ll get “Page not found”. This is done by many viruses to protect themselves from the user getting help from AV sites.

To restore your HOSTS file to it’s original state, you can download and run this tool:

Restores the default HOSTS file on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
http://secured2k.home.comcast.net/tools/HOSTS.EXE
… this is a legit program from a volunteer moderator @ McAfee

The hosts file can be “infected” but it’s not a major problem by itself. Instead it’s just a way to block or redirect internet traffic. For example, www.mcafee.com could be blocked so it does not show up when typed into a browser.

The reason the HOSTS file is being infected is because there is another program running on your computer that is most likely a virus. To make sure your system is clean you can get another opinion besides Avast by running an on-line scanner such as ‘Housecall’ or ‘Panda active scan’.

Housecall
http://housecall60.trendmicro.com/en/start_corp.asp?id=scan

Panda Activescan
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm

Hope this helps.


BTW, I use an pretty extensive “Hosts” file to guard against getting a lot of adware / spyware. Any frame that has something like ‘double click’ will be blocked. In that frame I see ‘Page can not be displayed’. I get very few date miner cookies… about 2 per week when I run Adaware or SpyBot S+D.

Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

This Hosts file is updated with more sites added periodically

:slight_smile: Rick F :

Did you not read where fightback said he used my
recommendation of Hosts File Reader to reset his
Hosts File to the original "state" !?

Fightback84 :

It appears you still may have some malware on your
computer; since you say you have Ad-Aware SE, I suggest
you ask for help from the Ad-Aware Experts that can be
found at www.landzdown.com .

Hi Spiritsongs,

When I posted my reply, it took me some time to gather the info. I did not see his post where he had fixed it using your suggested link. Prior to that, it looked like he was still having trouble and had asked for more help about the ‘Hosts’ file. Since I posted first about the ‘Hosts’ file possibly being his problem, I felt obliged to try to help.

Sorry if it looked like I was stepping on your toes. ::slight_smile: We’re all here just trying to help one another, right?