#0045 Can't Reach A Specific Website? Try these solutions!

Simple things first:

If your internet is working and you can't get to a single website, you could try the following basic troubleshooting items. Any one of these could be the issue. Use process of elimination. Each of these items has it's own set of instructions. Contact MCC if you need assistance.

• REMEMBER: The website your trying to reach could be down or having a problem. This situation would be completely out of your control. If your having trouble with more than one website; continue with the solutions below.
  
  
• Try the website you are trying to reach by using a different browser. These would include, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Opera etc...
  
  
• Try the website you are trying to reach from a different computer.
  
  
• Clear your web browser cache and test. The steps to do this will vary depending on the browser that you are using.
  
  
• Reset your web browser to defaults and test. The steps to do this will vary depending on the browser that you are using.
  
  
• Temporarily turn off your security software and test. This would be your Norton, McAfee, BitDefender, ESET etc... The steps to do this will depend on what security software you are using.
  
  
• Temporarily turn off your firewall and test. This could be the rules within your Windows firewall, security software firewall or a hardware firewall. The steps to fo this will depend on what you have setup as a firewall at your location.
  
  
• Temporarily turn off your VPN if your using one and test. These would include NordVPN, ExpressVPN, NortonVPN. McAfeeVPN, BitDefenderVPN etc... Each of these would have its own set of instrutions.
  
  

More advanced solutions:

• Delete your DNS Cache.
  Click START and find COMMAND PROMPT and open it. Then type:
  ipconfig /flushdns
  
  
• Try a different DNS provider and test. Your current provider could be having a problem or filtering out websites.
  DNS is a very common source of problems.
  Reference Blog Post #39 for additional information and list of free alternate DNS service providers.
  
  
• Use the PING and TRACERT commands to see if you have a path to the website. These are command line utilities and beyond the scope of this article. Both PING and TRACERT could be blocked by the webserver so this test may be inconclusive.
  
  
• Try turning off or disabling IPv6 on your router and computers. Most software doesn’t support IP6. It was created several years ago but few people actually use it. It can be safely disabled. This is beyond the scope of this article.
  
  
• Your hosts file may contain blocks for certain websites. (uncommon on home computers) This is highly unlikely and a more advanced item to check.