Why do certain websites suddenly stop working for me?

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 10:54:37 +0000, Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

On 01-Dec-17 15:06, Doomsdrzej wrote:
On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 10:54:37 +0000, Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

Thanks for your reply.

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

Hc wrote:
On 01-Dec-17 15:06, Doomsdrzej wrote:
On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 10:54:37 +0000, Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

Thanks for your reply.

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

At one time, there was a bit of evil applied to BitTorrent
connections. Basically, an ISP with Deep Packet Inspection
gear, upon detecting a torrent, would break it by sending
RST packets in both directions. This causes the connection
to drop on both ends (client and server). In other words,
it's used illegally by ISPs for traffic management. the
DPI box can detect the usage of protocols, and can be programmed
to break connections.

Today, in countries which no longer allow VPN links, you
might see some monkey business with those.

The thing is, there are also valid scenarios, where a company
server may be overloaded, and it can send an RST in your
direction. Thus causing your client to disconnect, and your
browser to have a snotty message.

It isn't possible to tell the difference between the
"ISP interferes with traffic" case, versus the
"server is overloaded" case.

You can see RST packets in Wireshark, and when my ISP
had mis-programmed the DPI box, I was getting them
regularly, splattered over all sorts of web traffic. It
took the idiots around three months to correct it on
their own. I don't really think they program the DPI
box themselves, and are probably using a software package
from the maker of the DPI box.

There is an eaxmple of some contemplation of RST packets
here, but this doesn't specifically address the abuse of
RST packets.

https://www.snellman.net/blog/archiv...02-01-tcp-rst/

Your RST packets could be quite innocent ones, but I'm not
willing to believe that today. Now that net neutrality is
to be squashed flat in the USA, I would be prepared to see
a *lot* more RST packets in the wild, in situations where
they don't belong. Because it will be the Wild West all
over again. ****ing on Torrents, splattering legit
Web Traffic, and nobody to stop them.

Paul

On Fri, 01 Dec 2017 11:45:53 -0500, Paul wrote:

At one time, there was a bit of evil applied to BitTorrent
connections. Basically, an ISP with Deep Packet Inspection
gear, upon detecting a torrent, would break it by sending
RST packets in both directions. This causes the connection
to drop on both ends (client and server). In other words,
it's used illegally by ISPs for traffic management. the
DPI box can detect the usage of protocols, and can be programmed
to break connections.

Today, in countries which no longer allow VPN links, you
might see some monkey business with those.

The thing is, there are also valid scenarios, where a company
server may be overloaded, and it can send an RST in your
direction. Thus causing your client to disconnect, and your
browser to have a snotty message.

It isn't possible to tell the difference between the
"ISP interferes with traffic" case, versus the
"server is overloaded" case.

True, but it *would* be possible if the *******s at the ISP didn't take
the extra step of spoofing the RST to make it look like it came from the
remote end of the connection. That kind of thing doesn't happen on its
own, it needs intentional help.

Hc wrote:

Doomsdrzej wrote:

Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

Should be a file, not a folder, and with no extension, just "hosts"
(sans quotes). It contains a pair of values per line: IP address and
hostname. It shortcuts DNS lookups: the OS looks in this file before it
issues a request to a DNS server to do the hostname-to-IPaddress lookup.

Malware can alter the contents of this file. For example, it will add
several entries to prevent you from visiting and using many anti-malware
web sites that provide tools to look for malware. Some users replace
the hosts file with one with a pre-compiled list from other sources
(e.g., MVPS hosts file) to use for ad and tracker blocking. It's a bit
clumsy since there is no easy and quick way to disable using the file
from within a web client in case the blacklist is overly aggressive or
simply wrong. Normally there is a bunch of commented out lines (# in
column 1) at the beginning of this file and then 1 or 2 entries:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::01 localhost

The 1st line is the IPv4 notation for an IP address. The 2nd line is
the IPv6 notation for the same IP address. localhost is the hostname.
Check if you have any other entries in that file.

Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Same user often means the same or similar extensions added to each web
browser. Have you tried loading each web browser in its safe mode?
While Firefox has a safe mode, Chrome does not other than having to use
a command-line parameter to disable just extensions.

Have you configured each web browser or used an extension or tool to
purge all locally cached data from the web browsers? If you reuse
cached data, could be a new web page was slid into the web server but
your locally cached copy won't work with the server with its old code.
You have to get rid of your local data for the web site(s) and make sure
you retrieve whatever are the current pages at the site(s).

Have you tried rebooting Windows into its safe mode with networking?
That would eliminate any interference by startup programs, including
anti-virus software in most cases.

If the two web sites are at the same webhosting service, could be there
is an outage or server problem there. Could be those two web sites are
owned or managed by the same entity and they are doing maintenance or
brought down their server for some common purpose or they didn't pay
their domain registration renewal fee or a myriad of other problems.
You did not provide URLs to the problematic web sites so no one can
check. The screen snapshots you provide don't show what page at each
site has a problem. The page might be trying to do something but its
code is screwed up or the server-side scripts, programs, or databases
aren't responding. For the Google Chrome screen capture, all we know is
you visited the npower.com domain, not what page you tried to visit
there. www.npower.com loads just fine (right now - you didn't how long
you keep retesting to see if the problem would get corrected); however,
I don't know what page you tried to visit. If the page you visited with
problems require a login to view then no one here can look at it. In
that case, you'll need to contact the domain admin about the problem.

Since npower.com is a utilities company (gas & electric), I'm guessing
you visited a page accessible only after login that attempt to access
some data from a database but the script is screwed up or the host where
they run their database server is down, unreachable, hung, or too busy.
The page cannot get to the database to get data for your account.

On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 15:43:42 +0000, Hc wrote:

On 01-Dec-17 15:06, Doomsdrzej wrote:
On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 10:54:37 +0000, Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

Thanks for your reply.

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

Open the hosts file in Notepad or a superior text editor like
Notepad++. If it hasn't been tampered with, it should end with the
following:

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost


If there is more, it's been modified by a program of some sort.

Considering it affects two different browser, it's either that file or
a program which has access to both applications like an anti-virus.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Fri, 1 Dec 2017 15:43:42 +0000, Hc
wrote:

On 01-Dec-17 15:06, Doomsdrzej wrote:
On Fri, 1 Dec 2017 10:54:37 +0000, Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

Thanks for your reply.

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

if you're using a 32-bit file manager, it won't show every file on a
64-bit system. IIRC hosts is one of them. There are several free
64-bit file managers as well as the one that comes with windows. The
ones that are 32-bit only install easily, seem to work fine, and don't
seem to mention the fact that they don't show every file.

On 01-Dec-17 19:34, VanguardLH wrote:
Hc wrote:

Doomsdrzej wrote:

Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

Should be a file, not a folder, and with no extension, just "hosts"
(sans quotes). It contains a pair of values per line: IP address and
hostname. It shortcuts DNS lookups: the OS looks in this file before it
issues a request to a DNS server to do the hostname-to-IPaddress lookup.

Malware can alter the contents of this file. For example, it will add
several entries to prevent you from visiting and using many anti-malware
web sites that provide tools to look for malware. Some users replace
the hosts file with one with a pre-compiled list from other sources
(e.g., MVPS hosts file) to use for ad and tracker blocking. It's a bit
clumsy since there is no easy and quick way to disable using the file
from within a web client in case the blacklist is overly aggressive or
simply wrong. Normally there is a bunch of commented out lines (# in
column 1) at the beginning of this file and then 1 or 2 entries:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::01 localhost

The 1st line is the IPv4 notation for an IP address. The 2nd line is
the IPv6 notation for the same IP address. localhost is the hostname.
Check if you have any other entries in that file.

Thanks for the information. All looks well with the hosts file and it
appears as follows:


# localhost name resolution is handle within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

So I suspect there is another cause

On 01-Dec-17 19:47, VanguardLH wrote:
Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Same user often means the same or similar extensions added to each web
browser. Have you tried loading each web browser in its safe mode?
While Firefox has a safe mode, Chrome does not other than having to use
a command-line parameter to disable just extensions.

Have you configured each web browser or used an extension or tool to
purge all locally cached data from the web browsers? If you reuse
cached data, could be a new web page was slid into the web server but
your locally cached copy won't work with the server with its old code.
You have to get rid of your local data for the web site(s) and make sure
you retrieve whatever are the current pages at the site(s).

Have you tried rebooting Windows into its safe mode with networking?
That would eliminate any interference by startup programs, including
anti-virus software in most cases.

If the two web sites are at the same webhosting service, could be there
is an outage or server problem there. Could be those two web sites are
owned or managed by the same entity and they are doing maintenance or
brought down their server for some common purpose or they didn't pay
their domain registration renewal fee or a myriad of other problems.
You did not provide URLs to the problematic web sites so no one can
check. The screen snapshots you provide don't show what page at each
site has a problem. The page might be trying to do something but its
code is screwed up or the server-side scripts, programs, or databases
aren't responding. For the Google Chrome screen capture, all we know is
you visited the npower.com domain, not what page you tried to visit
there. www.npower.com loads just fine (right now - you didn't how long
you keep retesting to see if the problem would get corrected); however,
I don't know what page you tried to visit. If the page you visited with
problems require a login to view then no one here can look at it. In
that case, you'll need to contact the domain admin about the problem.

Since npower.com is a utilities company (gas & electric), I'm guessing
you visited a page accessible only after login that attempt to access
some data from a database but the script is screwed up or the host where
they run their database server is down, unreachable, hung, or too busy.
The page cannot get to the database to get data for your account.


Many thanks for your detailed response.

I tried launching Firefox in safe mode, but the problem persisted.
However when it came to then trying booting Windows in safe mode with
networking, the problem disappeared. Perhaps then it could be anti-virus
as you suggest? The anti-virus client I am currently using is Sophos
Endpoint Security and Control. I also have K9 Parental Control software
installed.

The other site I was having problems with is www.debenhams.com. This is
a reputable shopping website which does not require login.

On Mon, 4 Dec 2017 20:03:02 +0000, Hc wrote:

On 01-Dec-17 19:34, VanguardLH wrote:
Hc wrote:

Doomsdrzej wrote:

Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Any ideas what could be causing this?

Thanks.

I would first wager that your hosts file was modified. It might be a
good idea to check that (/Windows/System32/Drivers/etc).

I've found that folder. What should I be looking for in there?

Should be a file, not a folder, and with no extension, just "hosts"
(sans quotes). It contains a pair of values per line: IP address and
hostname. It shortcuts DNS lookups: the OS looks in this file before it
issues a request to a DNS server to do the hostname-to-IPaddress lookup.

Malware can alter the contents of this file. For example, it will add
several entries to prevent you from visiting and using many anti-malware
web sites that provide tools to look for malware. Some users replace
the hosts file with one with a pre-compiled list from other sources
(e.g., MVPS hosts file) to use for ad and tracker blocking. It's a bit
clumsy since there is no easy and quick way to disable using the file
from within a web client in case the blacklist is overly aggressive or
simply wrong. Normally there is a bunch of commented out lines (# in
column 1) at the beginning of this file and then 1 or 2 entries:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::01 localhost

The 1st line is the IPv4 notation for an IP address. The 2nd line is
the IPv6 notation for the same IP address. localhost is the hostname.
Check if you have any other entries in that file.

Thanks for the information. All looks well with the hosts file and it
appears as follows:


# localhost name resolution is handle within DNS itself.
# 127.0.0.1 localhost
# ::1 localhost

So I suspect there is another cause

It would have to be something which affects both browsers such as a
firewall program.

On Mon, 4 Dec 2017 20:07:28 +0000, Hc wrote:

On 01-Dec-17 19:47, VanguardLH wrote:
Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Same user often means the same or similar extensions added to each web
browser. Have you tried loading each web browser in its safe mode?
While Firefox has a safe mode, Chrome does not other than having to use
a command-line parameter to disable just extensions.

Have you configured each web browser or used an extension or tool to
purge all locally cached data from the web browsers? If you reuse
cached data, could be a new web page was slid into the web server but
your locally cached copy won't work with the server with its old code.
You have to get rid of your local data for the web site(s) and make sure
you retrieve whatever are the current pages at the site(s).

Have you tried rebooting Windows into its safe mode with networking?
That would eliminate any interference by startup programs, including
anti-virus software in most cases.

If the two web sites are at the same webhosting service, could be there
is an outage or server problem there. Could be those two web sites are
owned or managed by the same entity and they are doing maintenance or
brought down their server for some common purpose or they didn't pay
their domain registration renewal fee or a myriad of other problems.
You did not provide URLs to the problematic web sites so no one can
check. The screen snapshots you provide don't show what page at each
site has a problem. The page might be trying to do something but its
code is screwed up or the server-side scripts, programs, or databases
aren't responding. For the Google Chrome screen capture, all we know is
you visited the npower.com domain, not what page you tried to visit
there. www.npower.com loads just fine (right now - you didn't how long
you keep retesting to see if the problem would get corrected); however,
I don't know what page you tried to visit. If the page you visited with
problems require a login to view then no one here can look at it. In
that case, you'll need to contact the domain admin about the problem.

Since npower.com is a utilities company (gas & electric), I'm guessing
you visited a page accessible only after login that attempt to access
some data from a database but the script is screwed up or the host where
they run their database server is down, unreachable, hung, or too busy.
The page cannot get to the database to get data for your account.


Many thanks for your detailed response.

I tried launching Firefox in safe mode, but the problem persisted.
However when it came to then trying booting Windows in safe mode with
networking, the problem disappeared. Perhaps then it could be anti-virus
as you suggest? The anti-virus client I am currently using is Sophos
Endpoint Security and Control. I also have K9 Parental Control software
installed.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that either of those are the culprit.
Disable one of them and test. If you still see the issue, disable the
second and test. I'm thinking you'll see that at least one of them is
blocking your access.

If so, reconfigure it, as necessary, or consider using something that is
less intrusive.

Doomsdrzej wrote:

It would have to be something which affects both browsers such as a
firewall program.

Does the Windows 10 firewall do anything regarding outbound connections?
It can reject unsolicited inbound connection requests but, as I recall,
does nothing about outbound connections. Of course, the OP might've
installed a more robust 3rd party firewall.

Or the OS configured to use a local proxy instead of going direct to the
Internet. So another place to check is:

Internet Options - Connections - LAN Settings

If the OP is using a VPN, it going unresponsive or dead will kill all
Internet access if it is still enabled (to intercept all network
traffic). A proxy can be dead despite it is currently enabled.

Hc wrote:

On 01-Dec-17 19:47, VanguardLH wrote:
Hc wrote:

I'm experiencing a problem I've never experienced before in years of web
browsing. I've found two particular websites recently which just seem to
stop working after I've been browsing on them for a few minutes. Other
devices on the same wireless connection access them fine, but my Win10
desktop PC has issues. Changing browsers doesn't work. These are the
error messages I'm getting:

Firefox: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_firefox.jpg
Chrome: http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=17_chrome.jpg

Same user often means the same or similar extensions added to each web
browser. Have you tried loading each web browser in its safe mode?
While Firefox has a safe mode, Chrome does not other than having to use
a command-line parameter to disable just extensions.

Have you configured each web browser or used an extension or tool to
purge all locally cached data from the web browsers? If you reuse
cached data, could be a new web page was slid into the web server but
your locally cached copy won't work with the server with its old code.
You have to get rid of your local data for the web site(s) and make sure
you retrieve whatever are the current pages at the site(s).

Have you tried rebooting Windows into its safe mode with networking?
That would eliminate any interference by startup programs, including
anti-virus software in most cases.

If the two web sites are at the same webhosting service, could be there
is an outage or server problem there. Could be those two web sites are
owned or managed by the same entity and they are doing maintenance or
brought down their server for some common purpose or they didn't pay
their domain registration renewal fee or a myriad of other problems.
You did not provide URLs to the problematic web sites so no one can
check. The screen snapshots you provide don't show what page at each
site has a problem. The page might be trying to do something but its
code is screwed up or the server-side scripts, programs, or databases
aren't responding. For the Google Chrome screen capture, all we know is
you visited the npower.com domain, not what page you tried to visit
there. www.npower.com loads just fine (right now - you didn't how long
you keep retesting to see if the problem would get corrected); however,
I don't know what page you tried to visit. If the page you visited with
problems require a login to view then no one here can look at it. In
that case, you'll need to contact the domain admin about the problem.

Since npower.com is a utilities company (gas & electric), I'm guessing
you visited a page accessible only after login that attempt to access
some data from a database but the script is screwed up or the host where
they run their database server is down, unreachable, hung, or too busy.
The page cannot get to the database to get data for your account.


Many thanks for your detailed response.

I tried launching Firefox in safe mode, but the problem persisted.
However when it came to then trying booting Windows in safe mode with
networking, the problem disappeared. Perhaps then it could be anti-virus
as you suggest? The anti-virus client I am currently using is Sophos
Endpoint Security and Control. I also have K9 Parental Control software
installed.

The other site I was having problems with is www.debenhams.com. This is
a reputable shopping website which does not require login.

You have a startup program that is interferring with Internet access.
Could be malware. Could be something you installed that uses a local
proxy to intercept web traffic. Some anti-virus programs use a
transparent proxy to interrogate web traffic but some use a
non-transparent proxy. For the latter, if their proxy goes unresponsive
or crashes then nothing is getting through it. Avast uses a transparent
proxy. A long time ago I used Norton AV which uses a non-transparent
proxy. For Norton, the choice was to reboot the computer (to force a
new instance of a working proxy) or to figure out how to kill and
restart their services in the correct order (which I figured out and
used a script back then instead of having to wait for a reboot). I
don't know how Sophos works.

Are you sharing your computer with kids? If not, I don't see the point
of using K9 to censor yourself. If you are sharing the computer and
grant them use of your admin account then anyone can install anything,
including conflicting AV or other security software, VPNs, etc.

Since Windows safe mode removed the problem, you need to disable ALL
startup programs (using msconfig or SysInternals' AutoRuns) and enable
them one at a time to reboot into normal mode. When the problem returns
(if it does since a dead proxy will now be okay), you've found which
software causes the problem.

Some users will suggest a binary approach to disabling only half the
startup items; however, that neglects when software conflicts with each
other (much harder to determine) rather than discovering if there is
just one program causing the problem.