Links to ebay dont work? - Clean your Hosts File

Scourge · 08-14-2006, 06:24 PM

hey folks something really weird is happing i cant see any ebay links in any posts either thru Ie or Firefox any clues on how i can fix this

Tony_Bacala · 08-14-2006, 06:38 PM

To clarify, you click the link, and then in the new window, it goes blank?

Tony_Bacala · 08-14-2006, 06:42 PM

For people having problems with viewing links to ebay, it is most likely due to your HOSTS file. Here is how to clean it out. This is a good thing to do even if you aren't having problems on our site.

To find your Hosts file, named "HOSTS":

Windows XP:

* Access folder C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC in Explorer.

Windows 2000:

* Access folder C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC in Explorer.

Windows 95/98:

* Access folder C:\WINDOWS in Explorer.

Open file "HOSTS" in Notepad. Before making changes, do a "Save As" and save a backup of this file as "HOSTS.BAK". Then reopen the HOSTS file.

Now, delete all entries in this file except for the following and any other entries you are sure have legitimate uses:

127.0.0.1 localhost

Resave the file.

NOTES:

1) Some spyware may detect the hosts file has changed and resave a malware version. You should still download and use anti-spyware software to help remove the underlying threats.

2) Some anti-spyware software packages, such as Spybot Search and Destroy, may put entries in the host file to block access to known spyware sites. Entries may look like the following:

127.0.0.1 coolwwwsearch.com
127.0.0.1 coolwebsearch.com
127.0.0.1 cool-homepage.com

You should NOT remove these entries as they help protect your system! However, if you see entries like so:

???.???.???.??? ebay.com

Where ???.???.???.??? is some set of four numbers, you should probably REMOVE this entry as spyware is trying to redirect your access from ebay.com to another website.

--Note - If you feel you messed something else up by doing this, then you can delete the file called HOSTS, and rename HOSTS.BAK to just HOSTS, and you will have your original settings back.

Scourge · 08-15-2006, 07:55 AM

Hey Tony i tried this and i still do not see any of the ebay links at all.

http://img138.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenkd3.jpg

This exactly what i see click link to see screen shot

Tony_Bacala · 08-15-2006, 12:26 PM

Apparently you have an ad blocker on your computer. All the banners on the sidebar are gone regardless if they are for a store or not. Im guessing that your ad blocker is reading our redirect link attached to all ebay urls as an ad, and removing them from the page too.

Try turning that off and see what happens.