Object not found! on regular webpages

[jcchang4]

Ever since installing xamp, many pages on the internet, not any of my projects, that have links that I click on result in an "object not found" error. For example bensbargains.net/. any links I click on result in an error such as :

Object not found!

The requested URL was not found on this server. The link on the referring page seems to be wrong or outdated. Please inform the author of that page about the error.

If you think this is a server error, please contact the webmaster.

Error 404

http://www.dpbolvw.net
04/12/09 21:39:01
Apache/2.2.11 (Win32) DAV/2 mod_ssl/2.2.11 OpenSSL/0.9.8i PHP/5.2.9


can anyone help with this please?
Thank you in advance

[Wiedmann]

For example bensbargains.net/. any links I click on result in an error such as :

Which Link is not working on this page?

many pages that have links that I click on result in an "object not found" error.

Well, the error message is self explaining: The Link is wrong and the target of such link does not exists.

[jcchang4]

The majority of the links that say "click here" open a new window with that error.

I understand that the page does not exist. It is looking for the pages on my localhost for some reason, which is what I'm trying to figure out.

Any ideas??

[Wiedmann]

The majority of the links that say "click here" open a new window with that error.

Can you explicitly name one?

(Or is this some kind of spam from you, inducing people to click through your shopping site?)

It is looking for the pages on my localhost for some reason,

BTW: There is no link to localhost in the html source of this page

[jcchang4]

on the http://bensbargains.net/ site, one that is listed that gives the result is :

Deal:HP dv7t 2.0GHz 3GB 320GB 17" Laptop $700 at HP Home Click Here
Discuss (0) : History : Tell : Posted 8:41 AM PDT 04/13/09 by Ben


I realize that the pages do not point to my localhost in the code, however when I turn off my Apache, it gives a "broken link" page

Also, certain advertisements on sites, such as yahoo mail also give the same "page not found" error as well or will sometimes show
the index.php in my "C:\xampp\htdocs" folder.

Which is what made me theorize that it is looking at my localhost for some reason

[Wiedmann]

Well, I don't know. But from what I see, the whole page (html code) is generated from some shopping, portal or cms software. Thus I think you should ask the support from that software.
(nobody here can know how this software is working and how this software is generating the links in the html source)

however when I turn off my Apache, it gives a "broken link" page

What does you mean with "my Apache"?
--> if you turn of the webserver, you can't see anything. Not only a "broken link" in a page. Because you can't load the page at all.

[jcchang4]

These are not my webpages. These are just random webpages and they bring up that error. If I go onto another computer, all the links show up fine.

The Apache is the Apache server on my laptop

[Wiedmann]

These are not my webpages. These are just random webpages and they bring up that error.

Should this statement not be part of your first post/question?

Well, I guess you have some kind of advertising blocker installed on your system. This advertising blocker have changed your local HOSTS file in the way, that several hostnames are pointing to 127.0.0.1. And if you have a local webserver running, you get an error message from this server, because the advertising URIs from the original requests does not exists on your local server.

[jcchang4]

Yes I understand that, like I said previously, that started occurring after I installed XAMPP, and I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas or found themselves in a similar situation

[Wiedmann]

and I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas or found themselves in a similar situation

If my above statement is not only a guess and it is true for your system (?), this behavior is normal and happens to everyone which is using any local webserver and have changed the HOSTS file in that way.