IE6/IE7/Firefox problem fixed finally!

[JohnZ3MC]

Just in case anybody else had the same problem, here's a fix:
Problem: My old familiar google homepage wouldn't load anymore. An 'Apache placeholder' page appeared in it's place.

Background: I use IE6 and foolishly tried the new IE7 and found it cumbersome and 7 wouldn't seem to load google.ca as my usual homepage. I had difficulty adding google as a search engine within 7 also. Other pages loaded fine.
I removed it properly and went back to IE6. Flakiness ensued, google.ca wouldn't load. The familiar 'apache placeholder' page kept appearing. Other pages loaded fine.
I removed IE6 and went with Firefox. It wouldn't load my google.ca homepage either. The same 'apache placeholder' page appeared. Other pages loaded fine.
3 different virus checks, spyware checks, adaware checks didn't offer any hints.

I'm embarassed that it took so long to find the solution, I'm usually as sharp as a tack.

Solution: the 'hosts' file had been modified to ban access to many google variants.
I deleted all entries in the hosts file, and Google loads fine now. No more 'apache placeholder' page. IE6 works fine, Firefox works fine.

The hosts file is a text file and can be opened with notepad. For XP, it's located in windows\system32\drivers\etc. (lmhosts.sam is a text file also, with info about how the hosts file works.)

So, if a similar problem occurs, do the virus checks etc first,
Go and look inside the hosts file and just delete offending lines.
-John C.