Can't access any Microsoft Website :( Others are fine

Question

I have tried all the websites - microsoft.com, windows.com, live.com, even bing.com won't open. All other websites are opening. What is the problem? Google Chrome just gives the error that the website is not available. Opera gives the error "Connection closed by remote server". Internet Explorer cant open. Safari is refusing too. It just stays blank in Safari.

What's the problem? Some Virus or spyware?

Please help. Thanks.

Here is some more info: I am running Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate. Chrome 5 is throwing this error: <----This webpage is not available. The webpage at microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address. More information on this error Below is the original error message Error 101 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET): Unknown error.---->

Answer 1

Download and install these 2 scanners.

Install MBAM, use the update tab to update (update it twice) the program before scanning.

http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html

Then install and run this one http://download.cnet.com/SuperAntiSpyware-Free-Edition/3000-8022_4-10523889.html

.

Answer 2

1: Make sure you don't have a proxy setup. In ie: Tools -> Internet options -> Connections -> LAN Settings -> uncheck proxy if its setup

2: see if it works now. If not, keep on going

3: open command line (start -> type run [enter]) and try to ping those domains. ping microsoft.com ping live.com etc.

See if you can even ping them. You can also try a tracert microsoft.com to see if you're going to the right place. If not, keep on going

4: Click on start and search for notepad and run as administrator. Open the file c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

5: Make sure you don't see a bunch of entries that would point those domains to other IP's. Look for any lines that don't start with # and have an IP and a domain ex:

255.255.255.255 microsoft.com

If you find any then something added entries in your host file. Very likely a virus or some other malware. Remove all those entries and save the file (make sure you open notepad as administrator or it wont let you save since its a system file, unless you're already running as admin).

Once the file is saved, click start, type run [enter] ipconfig /flushdns [enter]

This will reload your hostfile and flush your currently resolved dns cache.

6: Try again.

7: If that doesn't work, make sure that if you're running a firewall, you're not actually blocking those domains.

8: Make sure you're not pointing to some rogue DNS server.

After this, I'd have to think some more to figure out what's going on...