Baffling computer problem re: Hotmail

[nolanfan34]

OK, hoping someone who knows more about computers than myself will be able to point me in the right direction here.

For the last 3 days, neither my wife or I can access Hotmail from our computers at home. The rest of the web is fine. MSN.com is perfectly accessable. As soon as I try to go to Hotmail though, it stalls, and says it can't find the server.

Somehow, MSN messenger is signing in still and tells me I have mail. I just can't open the mailbox.

At work, I have no problem accessing it. My wife accessed hers last night at her parents place, so that's the baffling part for me. It doesn't seem to be a Hotmail issue necessarily, but our home computers revolting against that particular login action.

WTF would cause something like that? I know a little about computers, but I can't figure out for the life of me why the rest of the web would work, including programs where you have to "log in" like Neteller, etc, but Hotmail won't work.

[Senor Cardgage]

I'm not really sure what it could be, other than the fact that some viruses can add lines to your registry or what-have-you to block certain urls.

Oddly enough, I'm experiencing the same problem today, except with Yahoo mail.

[Senor Cardgage]

I might check C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts in notepad to see if there were any added url's to the file, but I doubt that's the problem. I've just seen it happen before.

[tolbiny]

i have had problems from time to time, it was usually when my firewall was set up to blaock access to the site. don't ask why it seems to happen every coupld of months, but it does. Don't ask how to fix it cause i don't know.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not really sure what it could be, other than the fact that some viruses can add lines to your registry or what-have-you to block certain urls.

[/ QUOTE ]

This sounds feasible. I ran an anti-virus program last night, but it didn't come up with anything.

Another question for anyone who cares to answer, does the fact that my wife's computer accesses the net through a wireless modem, which is routed through my computer, make a difference? For example, if it's her computer that has a virus, could that spread over to my computer somehow?

I have Zone Alarm on my machine, and I checked last night and all programs that are supposed to have web access are getting it, but I didn't know how to check specific sites.

[Shajen]

Any computer that has a connection to another computer can spread viruses this way.

Your thinking is correct. Is this happening on both computers or just one of them? (I didn't see that info if you posted it)

EDIT: re-read the OP, interesting problem. I'm thinking./images/graemlins/grin.gif

[nolanfan34]

Both computers are having the same problem with Hotmail. MSN Messenger will sign on, and the little window pops up saying "you have 2 new e-mails", etc. Normally if I click that, it takes me right to my inbox. Right now, the window opens, it tries to open the page, then freezes, and says it can't connect to the server.

And yes, not using Hotmail is a preferred option, but we've both had our accounts for a long time, so it's hard to make a cold turkey switch to a new provider...

[Shajen]

do you get the same problem if you go to www.hotmail.com (http://www.hotmail.com) and login from there? (i'm assuming you've already tried this)

If you haven't, give that a go. If you have, I don't have a clue what it could be man. Maybe delete cookies and the like in your browser.