cannot open webpage

am on late 2015 i mac el capitan 3.7...... error message comes up when on the huffington post web page that says cannot connect to server when i click on individual news stories tried firefox and tor same thing happens, the message says it could be due to disabling cookies, which i accept, have turned off adblock and ghostery and avast, makes no difference .......is this due to my settings or is it on the other end ? thanks
d.

Works quite well for those who want to read it. If you have disabled cookies you got it in one. And a word - get rid of Avast it is a resource hog, spreads malware and there are still no Mac OS X viruses. NIt could be the source of your problems.

As Harry said, get rid of Avast and any other antivirus or firewalls you might have added. Clear the history/cache of your browser. Post back what you find.

Lisa

thank you

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thanks

thank you both for your assistance, the illusion that macs are impervious to virus are greatly over rated, have blocked several and located a glimer that infected before i used anti virus that malwarebytes couldnt discover and got into library and pulled it out successfully many p to p sites are windows virus but not all ....Harry, two things if you please one what is NIt.....second where is the source that avast spreads malware .....if this is the case i should look at the situation again ....thanks for your help

denniscampbell said:

Harry, two things if you please one what is NIt.....second where is the source that avast spreads malware .....if this is the case i should look at the situation again ....thanks for your help

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I think that is a typo. I think that Harry meant it (Avast) may be contributing to the problem.

Avast may have found a few things but it's probably Windows malware which cannot infect the Mac but can infect a Windows/Bootcamp partition if you have one installed.

thank you both for your assistance, the illusion that macs are impervious to virus are greatly over rated,

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Please provide us with one virus (not malware and not a Windows virus) that has been found on your Mac or any Mac. Avast is a resouce hog that will slow down your machine and it will not find any viruses that can infect your Mac since there are none. There is malware, however, and that is why we recommend running something like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software. (Which by the way is free.)

Please provide us with one virus

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You beat me with your post again chscag, but I have a feeling that some posters still aren't aware of what an actual computer virus actually is or the proper definition.

I look foreword to the OP's reply and maybe learning something new I didn't know about.

Malwarebytes is not an AV software and you use thir product, so read this about Avast and adware. PC AV software developers have taken to calling adware, malware and every other 'ware' as a virus to sell their product to Mac users. There are no Mac OS X viruses, all they download is Windows virus definitions which cannot activate on the Unix based operating system. However if you want to use it go ahead.


http://www.thesafemac.com/avast-installs-adware/

If you can’t open a website, try these suggestions.

Check the message that appears when a page fails to open. It may suggest ways to solve the problem or include information you need to solve it.

Make sure you’re using the correct address for the webpage. If you copied and pasted the address, make sure it doesn’t have extra characters or missing characters at the beginning or end.

If the website requires a VPN connection, make sure it’s functioning properly. For more information, see Connect to a virtual private network.

Try entering /index.html or /index.htm at the end of the address.

Choose View > Reload Page. If the page still won’t open, quit Safari, reopen it, then try again.

The website server may be busy, or the website may be unavailable temporarily. Try again later.

If the webpage has a Bonjour address, make sure the page is on the same local area network (subnet) as your computer.

If you connect to the Internet using a corporate or enterprise network, the network may have a firewall that prevents you from opening the webpage. Contact your network administrator for help.

If your computer or network is protected by a firewall, you may need to specify proxy servers to access some Internet sites. For more information, see Set up a proxy server.

Contact the website’s owner to find out if the web server has a problem, or if the website is incompatible with Safari. For example, Safari can’t open a website that uses a protocol other than http or https.

Use the latest version of Safari. To check for a Safari update, choose Apple menu > App Store, then click Updates. For more information, see Keep your Mac up to date.

The page might be blocked by a Content Blocker you have installed. To see if the issue occurs without the Content Blocker, click and hold the Reload button, then choose Reload Without Content Blockers.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21431?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US

denniscampbell said:

...where is the source that avast spreads malware .....

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Avast doesn't spread "malware". However, Avast does install adware and does some other very troubling borderline malware-type things:
http://www.thesafemac.com/avast-installs-adware/
http://www.thesafemac.com/avasts-man-in-the-middle/

Note that Macs have built-in anti-virus software that is automatically updated variously called GateKeeper and Quarantine.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1165408/mountain_lion_hands_on_with_gatekeeper.html
http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-builtin/

And all of the major Web browsers for the Mac have software built-in (licensed from Google), that is frequently updated, that keeps users from accidentally visiting malicious or poisoned Web sites, called "Safe Browsing":
http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/safebrowsing/

If you cannot access a Web site, you can use one of these free services to see if the site in question is down for everyone, or if it is just you who cannot access it:
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com
https://downdetector.com/