Switching to another DNS should have no noticeable effect other than to
bypass the Search Assistant results when the hostname lookup fails. However,
if you're going through a HTTP proxy at Earthlink (and they may have this
forced for all connections, I've never had any dealings with Earthlink so
couldn't tell you if they do this or not) then they could still intercept
HTTP response codes and spit their Search Assistant up depending on the code
returned (or lack of any response at all).
It's worth a try though - if it does cause problems, switch the DNS settings
back to automatic so they use the Earthlink assigned DNS servers.
Do you have any add-ons installed like IE7Pro, or using AVG with it's
Linkscanner? It's possible that the reason you see this sometimes with
Google searches is that you have something performing a "pre-fetch" on all
those search result links (IE7Pro has this as an option you can turn on,
with AVG you need to deselect the Linkscanner part when installing or remove
it if already installed) and if any of those links points to a hostname that
can't be looked up by DNS you could end up with that Search Assistant being
forced up somehow (again, possibly back to a transparent proxy, although if
this was the case I'd expect the results to be somewhat slow as it would
require the Earthlink proxy to wait till all the requests had been made to
monitor the responses ...)
Only other thing I can think of is that maybe Earthlink randomly switch in
their Search Assistant IP address when searching Google to force customer's
browsers to pull up the Search Assistant page. If so, this would be
something else you could bypass by switching DNS.
Dan
"Tom461" wrote in message
news:1E5D428C-AC5F-4B17-841B-461D04239CDD@microsoft.com...
> Thanks Dan--a very thoughtful response. I can't figure out how Earthlink
> gets
> its hand on my Google searches. Now I do restrict myself to using the
> right
> side search bar, but I used to be able to use the search bar without
> leaving
> Google. This is not exactly a welcome change, although there is a
> work-around, as you say. I think Earthlink is being paid to do this by
> Yahoo.
> The Earthlink opt-out involves going to a fixed DNS, apparently. Does
> doing
> this have any negative effects elsewhere for my net experiences?
>
> "Dan" wrote:
>
>> Are you using the address bar to search Google? If so, use the search bar
>> instead - this way your search goes straight to Google if you have it set
>> as
>> your default search provider, and so you should never see the Earthlink
>> Search Assistant site unless you end up clicking on a link on the that is
>> not longer valid, or enter an invalid URL in the address bar.
>>
>> Earthlink Search Assistant is a web page, it's not an add-on in your
>> browser. What happens is that when your browser tries to contact an
>> address
>> that doesn't exist (the hostname is not found in DNS queries by
>> Earthlink)
>> the Earthlink DNS servers return an IP address for their Search Assistant
>> website, which is what you are seeing. The only way to avoid this is to
>> change your DNS server settings to not use the Earthlink ones.
>>
>> Verisign did something similar a few years back, but that affected pretty
>> much everyone using the web rather than just one ISP.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>>
>> "Tom461" wrote in message
>> news:87B8BA52-1959-4580-9094-34DEF1107AE0@microsoft.com...
>> > I disabled all the Add-ons, and I still get Earthlink Search Assistant.
>> > Oddly, the twc toolbar does not appear in the registry, so the
>> > connection
>> > Earthlink made between Elnk Search Assistant and the twc toolbar does
>> > not
>> > hold. I see the permissions bar flash and then I get the Elnk Search
>> > Assitant, when I put in some nonesense word. I have not tried
>> > WinPatrol,
>> > but
>> > I will consider it. If the twc toolbar is not the culprit, how is the
>> > Elnk
>> > Search Assistant loading with bypassing permissions?
>> >
>> > "Don Varnau" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi,
>> >> I would try to find the browser add-on that's causing this and disable
>> >> it.
>> >> If it's disabled, not uninstalled, the constant reinstallation should
>> >> cease.
>> >>
>> >> In Tools> Manage add-ons> Show: All add-ons, disable a suspect add-on
>> >> or
>> >> two. Restart IE and browse/search. If the behavior persists, disable
>> >> another
>> >> add-on until you find the guilty party.
>> >> For troubleshooting information see:
>> >> IEBlog Troubleshooting and Internet Explorer’s (No Add-ons) Mode:
>> >> http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/07/25/678113.aspx
>> >>
>> >> Possible third-party solution...
>> >> Try the free trial of WinPatrol from http://www.billp.com/ WinPatrol
>> >> should
>> >> be able to block installation of the add-on/search assistant.
>> >> -
>> >> Hope this helps,
>> >> Don
>> >> [MS MVP- IE]
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Tom461" wrote in message
>> >> news:3E35BF47-2866-499A-BB68-7BF49E73ABA9@microsoft.com...
>> >> > My internet provider Earthlink, which partners with Comcast and Time
>> >> Warner,
>> >> > is automatically installing in my computer a "twc" toolbar whenever
>> >> > I
>> >> > do a
>> >> > search with no returns. I put search terms in google but sometimes
>> >> > get
>> >> > the
>> >> > Earthlink Search Assistant coming up instead of google. I do not
>> >> > want
>> >> > this
>> >> > feature, which feels invasive and was never requested. So, I put in
>> >> > "Earthlink Toolbar" in the FIND feature in the registry and came up
>> >> > with
>> >> > "twctoolbarle7.dll". The "twc" is apparentlly "Time Warner Cable".
>> >> > After a
>> >> > number of long online chats with Earthlink tech support, I was told
>> >> > to
>> >> delete
>> >> > this registry entry and reboot. After rebooting, I put gibberish in
>> >> > the
>> >> > search box, and Earthlink Search Assistant appeared again. When the
>> >> > page
>> >> > appeared, I noticed that the 'permissions bar' (I don't know its
>> >> > accurate
>> >> > name) flashed briefly above the web page area before the full web
>> >> > page
>> >> came
>> >> > up. I did not approve the download and had no opportunity to do so
>> >> > either.
>> >> I
>> >> > looked again in the registry, and what I had just deleted before
>> >> > rebooting
>> >> > per instructioons had reappeared. So the download of the twc toolbar
>> >> > is
>> >> being
>> >> > forced in, under the radar of the desktop user. I don't want to use
>> >> > the
>> >> > complicated opt-out of changing to a fixed DNS number because I
>> >> > think
>> >> > that
>> >> > could cause other problems. My question to those who know a lot
>> >> > about
>> >> > IE8
>> >> and
>> >> > Windows 7 is as follows: Is there no configuration I can select to
>> >> > block
>> >> this
>> >> > forced download of a toolbar? This toolbar does not appear in
>> >> > Windows
>> >> > Programs. Also, I have never downloaded Earthlink Toolbar or
>> >> > Earthlink
>> >> Total
>> >> > Access. I know this for certain because this computer is only weeks
>> >> > old.
>> >>
>> >> .
>> >>
>>
>>
>>