Hello everyone, this is a strange problem...
Till yesterday, I was able to browse my bank's website.

Today, I am not able to browse to their website using BOTH IE7 and FireFox on Vista Ultimate....

I am able to do so thro another machine running WinXP.

I checked my hosts file, but there are no entries other than localhost. I even tried to disable the VISTA 'firewall', but no avail... still unable to browse to THAT PARTICULAR site only.

This is perplexing.. if anybody has any suggestions, I am most greatful..

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19044737-c7statcountercom

sounds like the same thing?

Hmm..nope.. I am not using any HOSTS file... and I dont think I have any other 'security' app that monitors (I disabled the Vista Firewall too.. )
Both IE and FF just keep spinning forever when I visit this particular bank's website on one particular machine only

Since this is a bank site obviously you're looking at a SSL problem. Since it happens with 2 different browsers it's probably not an ie setting.

Secure sites use port 443, therefore when you go to:

www.bank.com

Your browser actually goes to

www.bank.com:443

So in your browser type:

www.bank.com:80

To see if it comes up, if it does something is broken with SSL. can you go to other secure websites? It www.bank.com:80 doesn't come up, you don't have an SSL issue. Ping the website. Browse by ip address.

Next do basic troubleshooting:

reset everything in internet options, set the security level to default
check your date & time
make sure no firewalls or routers are blocking port 443

-gosh

Thanks Gosh... I tried all options you suggested. No avail.. I also reset IE7 to defaults.... The bank (http://www.dcu.org/) has both http and https. Both these are not coming up. Browsing using IP address is also not coming up. I also tried the ":portnumber" you suggested. I also downloaded the latest Opera. The site is not coming up.

I dont think it is a broken SSL, since the site comes up in my XP box, without problems (IE7 and FF).
All other important sites are coming up... tried a dozen others with SSL and non SSL.

This issue is not affecting me, because I have another XP box to get to my bank..... But this is very strange
Do you think this is because of something screwed up in Group Policy? Are there any tools to check and see why a particular site is not coming up (All browsers say "Connecting...." and sits there forever)

I have repaired that kind of problems with Dial-a-fix v0.60.0.24 in XP, but sadly it's not yet compatible with Vista...

You can check the wiki for tips, however, to see if it's of any help

http://wiki.djlizard.net/Main_Page

If you cannot browse the site by ip address...

http://1.2.3.4:80

then ping the website

ping 1.2.3.4

If you get 4 replies, you have connectivity with the site. If ping fails, post the error. If ping fails you're looking at a problem with your firewall, router, parental control software, hosts file, or ISP, or the website has disabled icmp ping requests.

-gosh