Can I block a website?

[cameronw01]

Hey,

I'm not sure how but for the last month once every three or four days the website www.netscape.com has been setting itself as my home page. This pisses me off very much. Is there any way I can block this webpage from being able to be viewed?

[wonderwes]

Which webbrowser is it doing it in? IE or Firefox? What version? Is your homepage blank or another set page? Do you have any anti-spyware scanning the machine>

[cameronw01]

IE version 7.0.7530.11. My homepage is set to a news site. Yes I have Norton Protection running and it's current. It hasn't picked up anything whenever this has happened.

Also I use Spybot Search and Destroy about once a week.

[CORed]

There are various ways to block the web site, but it may not solve your problem. It is likely that spyware, or some other software on your computer is setting the home page. If you block www.netscape.com at your router, by editing you hosts file, or with some kind of software, you home page will still get set to www.netscape.com, but you will get a "not found" error instead of the web page: Probably not what you want. You need to figure out what is causing this. If not spyware, it could be some ISP's proprietary connection software that changes this setting. The web site is not contacting your computer to set itself as you homepage. Something or someone on your computer is doing it.

[funkyworms]

Are you sure the website is exactly www.netscape.com? Is it possible that this is a hijack page using nonstandard characters?

[cameronw01]

Yes, it is certainly that website. I haven't been there intentionally in around 5 years and your link is coloured as if to suggest I've been there today. I'm the only person who uses this computer.

CORed,

is 'editing my host file' difficult? I'd rather a page not found than the page itself, if for nothing more than out of spite. Ads really really piss me off.

[funkyworms]

1) No. Editing the hosts file is not hard. You can edit it with notepad.
2) If you hate ads so much, download Firefox and the Adblock Plus add-on. No more banner ads...ever. 99% sure using Firefox will also solve your current problem.

[cameronw01]

Thanks, done.