Unable to access a specific website.

[ttnh]

Hello.  I'm not sure that this problem has anything to do with OpenDNS, but since it gives some appearance of being DNS related, and since I use OpenDNS as my server, I figured I'd post here first to see if anyone has any thoughts.

Basically, starting a few weeks ago (or so I believe), I've been unable to access one particular website from either of my PC's  on my home network.  Specifically, cnet.com.  Depending upon which browser I use, I get slightly different results ... but in all cases, I simply can't connect to CNET.  When using Chrome, it eventually displays a message saying that the website didn't respond and that a timeout occurred.  In IE 11, it eventually displays a message saying it couldn't connect, and that perhaps I should try enabling TLS 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2  ... which are already enabled.   In Edge, it just eventually says that it couldn't connect and that I should make sure the address is correct.   However, if I VPN into my work PC and try to access cnet from that machine, it works fine.

I've confirmed that I don't have cnet blocked or blacklisted anywhere.  I've checked my router settings to make sure that it's not blocking anything, and I've checked my AV and malware settings.  I've also tried disabling my anti-virus and anti-malware apps entirely, but I still can't get to cnet on either of my PCs.  I am however able to ping cnet.com in a command window successfully.

Interestingly, if I enter the cnet IP address directly into any browser, I do get to a CBS Interactive home page which then provides a link to cnet.  Clicking on that link however simply results in the same Unable to Connect messages.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what might be causing this?

Thanks.

-Tom

[rotblitz]

My response landed in "Pending Approval", so posting as a screen shot:

Here the relevant links to click:
https://www.webpagetest.org/result/170409_99_R2N/1/domains/
https://dashboard.opendns.com/stats/all/blockeddomains

[ttnh]

Well, I resolved the issue, and as was suspected, it has nothing to do with OpenDNS.  Per the Rotblitz's suggestion, I temporarily tried using a different DNS server ... no change whatsoever, CNET was still blocked.  That made me turn my attention to my Anti-Malware and Anti-Virus packages.  Although I had tried disabling them, I decided to uninstall them entirely.  First, I uninstalled Malwarebytes (3.0).   That did not correct the problem I then tried uninstalling Bitdefender (Internet Security 2017).  After doing that, I was able to access CNET again.  So, I reinstalled both apps, and of course my CNET problem returned.  Focusing on my Bitdefender settings, I came across a setting "Scan SSL", which was enabled.  (I thought I had disabled that in an earlier test.)  Regardless, disabling that one setting corrected the problem. It's interesting that it was affecting only CNET, but I'm guessing that it's likely to affect other sites as well, just not ones I visit.

Anyway, thanks again Rotblitz for pointing me in the right direction.