Proxy setting reappears on booting up (WXP-Home)

[pollymiles]

Has anyone found the answer yet to why the tick appears in proxy settings each time I boot up? I've read all the help messages but not found any answers that work with me. Unless I remove the tick each time I switch on I cannot get onto the internet. 'This page is unavailable' comes instead of my home page. I'd be grateful for any advice.

[Booter]

I'm not quite sure I understand. When you say "the tick appears in proxy settings", are you referring to IE/Tools/Internet Options/Connections tab/Settings?

If so, who is your Internet Service Provider? Do they require proxy settings? What is the address and port listed in the Proxy settings when you first look? Finally, are you on a networked system?

Bruce

[pollymiles]

At last! I have been trying to access my replies for several days. Thank you for your interest Bruce. I will try and explain. I switch on the computer and go to Internet Explorer but get the page marked 'cannot find server'. I go to 'tools\internet options\Connections tab\ Settings and click on LAN to see that the tick in the box marked 'proxy server' has reappeared. I delete it and then can access the internet normally. The other tick on the page LAN settings is in the box marked 'auto detect settings' If this is not ticked I cannot access the Internet. I have clicked the Advanced LAN settings tab and found that the address and port is:- HTTP 127.0.01 and Port number 8889. I have deleted these but they come back next time. I did get the message saying that if I deleted them I would not be able to access the Internet. Is this what I wanted? I clicked 'yes' and it didn't seem to make any difference. I am on ADSL/Broadband and believe that I should not need a proxy server. I run Windows XP SP2 Home.
I cannot telephone my server as I live in Spain and use Telefonica.net and I don't speak good enough Spanish. I did change my e-mail address a couple of months ago to avoid all the Spam I was getting. (I don't get any now!) I may have inadvertantly changed something then. A computer literate friend advised me to go to Regedit\HKey Current Configuration\ software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Internet Settings and told me that the Proxy Enable Reg. D Word should be set to '0'. I did do this and it is set to naught; but it didn't make any difference. After rebooting the tick is still there in the little 'proxy server box' and the deleted address and port listed in the proxy settings are back again. I am ignorant of the Registry and would only act on step by step instructions clearly given. I have Tweak Manager installed but do not understand enough to use it without advice. I have 'Registry Mechanic' and 'cleanup'. I run McAfee Virus and Firewall Plus together with Spam killer (which is no longer needed for the moment). I also run Executive Software for defragging automatically.
Any help or advice gratefully received.
Perhaps you could tell me step by step the settings I need to make a correct Interet Connection?
Yours with all the best season's greetings. Pauline Miles.

[Booter]

Hi Polly,

I'll try, but this is a gray area for me. I'm not sure yet why you have lan settings and a proxy server defined. Could be required, or could be a virus/worm/trojan playing around.

Try to answer these questions by number:

1. You did not answer. Are you on a networked system? If so, what else is on the network?
2. If you click on Tools/Internet Options/Connections, how many entries are listed under "Dial-up and Virtual Private Network settings"?
3. What are the names, and which is highlighted when you first see it?

If you're on a ADSL connection, you should never need to dial a connection. Put a tick mark in the "Never dial a connection" option and click apply.

4. How is your ADSL modem connected to your computer? The most common ways would be either Ethernet adapter or USB port. If either of these, you should not need a phone line plugged in to your computer. If there, disconnect it.

I'm guessing here, based on my settings. If something I tell you to do causes your system to cease to function on the internet, you'll have to figure out what it is and reverse it.

For each entry under "Dial Up and VPN Settings", click on the entry to highlight it, then click "Settings" (not LAN Settings). In the "Settings" window whch pops up, there are three settings you might choose. Make sure the boxes are cleared (not checked). If you changed any, click Apply, then OK.

Now, click on the "LAN Settings" button and make sure the same three boxes are cleared (not checked).

Next step, close down Internet Explorer (X in the upper right), then restart it again.

5. Double check each of the settings you made earlier. Have any of them changed? If so, Which?
6. Did you get a 'cannot find server' error?

If you are not connected to the internet and running, try this:

For each entry under "Dial Up and VPN Settings" (starting with Telefonica.net, which I assume is there), click on the name, then on Settings". Put a check mark in "Automatically Detect Settings" and click OK. Just in case, shut down IE and start it again.

7. Did that make any difference? If so, what?

I guess I'll need to know where you stand at this point to go further. For the above questions, reply to answer them. I'll add a few comments below for you.

"address and port is:- HTTP 127.0.01 and Port number 8889"

127.0.0.1 is the IP of your computer. It is sort of the "home address" to your system. I don't know yet what significance port 8889 has. Perhaps we'll find out.

"I did change my e-mail address "

That will solve your spam problem, at least for a while, but appears to have nothing to do with your IE peoblem.

You seem to have good virus and firewall protection. Registry changes (at least direct registry changes) and Tweak Manager are probably not the way to solve your problem.

If we have not made progress yet, at least we will have learned something. When you respond, we'll decide how to proceed.

Bruce

[pollymiles]

It isn't easy to find out how to reply to your letter. At last I've found it.
Thank you for your very speedy reply.
1.No, not on a networked system. I run 'Speedstream Router'.
2.There are 3 Broadband connections listed in the Dial Up and VP settings. and 1 Dial up.
3. Highlighted is No.2 Broadband. (I think they represent the times I have tried to make a new connection with the wizard; but all have identical boxes ticked.
The tick has always been in the 'never dial a connection' box.
4. I know we have a 'splitter' to separate the computer from the phone on same line so that is our connection. Can't remove phone line. I believe it is an Ethernet connection.
I cleared all check boxes on settings as instructed - switched off and did a restart. Google came up OK. Went to tools\options connections and LAN settings to find the tick had come back in the box 'use proxy server for your LAN! I clicked 'advanced' - IP and port number back again!
Then I tried one or two websites. The first pages came up but the links gave the message, 'This page is unavailable'.
I went back to removing the tick in the box marked 'use proxy server' and the tick in the bax marked 'automatically detect settings' and everything back to normal!
Now I went to 'control panel' and looked at 'Network settings'. It says: -
Broadband 1,2,3, disconnected. (all three are WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
Dial up connection - disconnected. (Standard 300bps Modem 95231370)
LAN or High Speed Internet - Local Area Connection 3 LAN Connected - Realtek RTL8139/810XF
As far as I can remember the man who set up the internet account said that the LAN Realtek connection was correct.
Reading through the Forum - a lot of people have a lot of problems: I wanted to tell you that I went to Cloudeight Information Avenue Forum before I came here and read about 20 problems exactly the same as mine about the tick coming back into the box marked 'use proxy server' and how boring it is to have to keep deleting it to enable access to the internet. Recently I have been going to Hibernate or Standby instead of switching off; but we get a lot of Thunderstorms around us and it is necessary to pull out all the plugs sometimes.
Thanks again. I will look forwoard to receiving your comments. You are doing a great job!
Pauline Miles

[Booter]

Hi Polly,

Your response to my numbered questions helped a lot. However, I'll skip the numbers here and give you some feedback.

This doesn't look like a virus, worm, or trojan. Instead, it looks like either an incorrect installaton of 'Speedstream Router' or a compatability settings problem between your firewall(s) and the router, probably the latter. I have no experience with the Speedstream Router, so can not help with it's configuration. More on this later.

"There are 3 Broadband connections listed in the Dial Up and VP settings. and 1 Dial up. "
"I think they represent the times I have tried to make a new connection with the wizard"

You're right. The dial up connection will not hurt you. We'll eliminate two of the broadbad guys later. They are redundant.

I wasn't very clear about connecting a phone line to the computer. You should have a filter (splitter) at the wall jack. One line from the splitter goes to your ADSL modem, which connects to either a USB port or an Ethernet port. The other connection at the splitter connects to a voice telephone, not to your computer. Since you are using DSL, the modem integrated into your computer is not being used, and therefore does not have to have a phone line plugged into it.

The 'Speedstream Router' contains a firewall, uses port forwarding, and requires inquiries to be accepted from the internet. I think using it explains the need for the settings which come back, and the address and port numbers. My guess is that these are correct for the router.

My guess is also that you have a conflict between the router you have installed and the integrated XP firewall. Since you have your own firewall, I'll explain how to turn off XP's firewall to see if that solves your problem:

Go to Control Panel, Network Connections.
You said "Broadband 1,2,3, disconnected. (all three are WAN Miniport (PPPOE)"

(Edit - I'm in the View-Icons mode, which makes this easier to do.)

Right click on and delete two of them. Leave one as it should be required.

On the one you left, right click on it and select "Properties", then the "Advanced tab".
Under "Internet Connection Firewall", make sure the box is cleared (no check mark).
Click OK.

If you have something listed under "Connection Manager", right click on it, select "Properties", and clear the same box. Click OK.

If the problem was that XP's Internet Connection Firewall was preventing unsolicited inquiries from the internet destined for your 'Speedstream Router', this should fix it.

If instead, the problem is in configuring the 'Speedstream Router', the links below should/might give you some information to help you understand and configure it:

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.haxial.com/faq/routerconfig/efficient/>Configuring Efficient SpeedStream Router</a>

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.haxial.com/faq/ipaddress/>IP Addresses</a>

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.alltel.net/downloads/links/SpeedStream211.pdf>Speedstream Router User Guide</a>

Sorry I can't be more help, but as I look them over, I'll let you know if anything pops out.

Bruce<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Booter on 12/17/04 12:09.</FONT></P>

[pollymiles]

Thank you Bruce. I have eliminated the redundant Broadband connections 1,2,3. Also I eliminated the redundant Dial up connection. I left only the Local Area connection 3 (LAN or High Speed Internet) which is connected. Connection to the Internet was OK. But.....the ticks came back in 'automatically connect settings and use a proxy server'. Google connected also all my websites on Favourites but......when I went to a link I still got the 'This page is unavailable'. So I deleted the tick in the 'use proxy server box', same as usual and everything worked again!!! Now I have disconnected the XP Windows Firewall.
I am going to give this a try for a while.
I have had to apply for a replacement password for the Forum each day when I want to connect because Although I am able to access the website as soon as I log in I have got the message that it didn't recognise my password!-- When I get the e-mail with a new one and click on the link, I get through to the messages and it receives my log in.
Now I will try it without the Windows XP Firewall. I really do think that might be the answer because this problem seems to date from when I installed XP2. Anyway, I will give it a go for a bit and I will come back to you in a few days and let you know what is going on. Very grateful thanks and a very happy Christmas to you wherever you are! This new technology is truly a miracle.

[Booter]

We'll wait to see what happens.

Bruce

[pollymiles]

That d---m tick keeps reapearing when I boot up and then I get the 'this page is unavailable' after Google, (my home page)! So I go to tools, internet options, connections,LAN and remove the tick and go back to Google again - then go to the link again and everything is OK!! If things don't change, they'll stop as they are. No worries. I'm fed up with this so will just carry on. I'm lucky to have everything working with no other problems.
I have removed the Windows XP Firewall and did think that made everything better but today it's back to the same old tricks. I have a programme called Digiguide for TV programmes and that wouldn't update with new programmes and I got the message that I had changed my proxy server and had to change it back to get the new downloaded lists. So never mind. Thanks for your help anyway and remember me if ever you do hear of the answer. Bye - yours gratefully, Pauline.