Certain website access issues.

Ok, I just went into network connections and right clicked on the ethernet connection to pull up the properties and un-clicked the IPv6 box. Is this the correct place to do this?
 
I don't know if I un-clicked the right IPv6 box but I just tried getting into my credit union account access tab and still get the error message.
 
This issue can happen when I use Google Chrome as well. I usually use Microsoft Edge. Sometimes when I can't access the site through Edge, I can go to Chrome and it will let me in. Sometimes it won't and I get the same error message.

How do I know if I have a VPN? I have not personally installed one.

The router has been rebooted multiple times with no effect on this issue.

If you haven't installed a VPN, then you probably don't have one.
Flusing the DNS cache is only useful if the wrong address is being cached. Since he's having intermittent connectivity, that's not the culprit. All new queries would be routed through OpenDNS, which rules the router out as a DNS proxy screwing up the queries.

Can you explain the logic of how Window's networking stack prioritizes and retrieves each entry, how large that cache is, how often it's refreshed, and thus say with certainty that a bad one is not being still pulled from the cache?

If the OP changed their DNS servers but didn't flush the cache, how long would it take newer, and proper entries to flush out any potential bad ones from the existing cache? How does Windows decide whether to pull from the cache, or request a new entry?

What if the admins of the problematic sites improperly set their TTLs?

On the enterprise level, it's still allowable to have to wait 24-48 hours for a name server change to propagate. How fast does it occur on the local machine level?

Flushing the machine's cache is easy, not going to hurt, and at least provides a clear baseline to work from.

I'd also suggest having the OP run a traceroute on the unreachable sites and see where it goes (and terminates).

And if the OP has a spare networking adapter handy, it could also be used to help eliminate a bad network card. My anecdotal experience includes two office Dells with network ports that died, and were replaced with network cards, though I don't recall if the failures mode was partial or total.

As I said, I'm not a Windows IT guy, so feel free to take what I say FWIW, but they are not uncommon troubleshooting techniques.
 
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Ok, I just went into network connections and right clicked on the ethernet connection to pull up the properties and un-clicked the IPv6 box. Is this the correct place to do this?

Yes, make sure you've done it for the Ethernet adapter.
 
Can you explain the logic of how Window's networking stack prioritizes and retrieves each entry, how large that cache is, how often it's refreshed, and thus say with certainty that a bad one is not being still pulled from the cache?

Not sure on the size, but the default cache period for sites that properly resolve is 1 day, and 15 minutes for sites that don't. It takes absolute priority over the nameservers listed for the adapter, so if the entry was bad, the site wouldn't load when he hits refresh, but it does.

If the OP changed their DNS servers but didn't flush the cache, how long would it take newer, and proper entries to flush out any potential bad ones from the existing cache? How does Windows decide whether to pull from the cache, or request a new entry?

What if the admins of the problematic sites improperly set their TTLs?

You are conflating two different scenarios.

In a non-resolving case, like say for example I changed the IP address for a specific site and a client is now unable to get to that site because the IP address changed and Windows is caching the wrong IP address, flushing the DNS cache makes sense.

In an intermittent case, like the OP is experiencing and has been for ages, while another client on the same network is NOT having the issue with the same sites, despite both using the same DNS server (the router), and has now spanned two different connections, both wireless and wired, obviously the right information is present because the site works most of the time and Windows isn't randomly switching between cache and non for a site it has already cached. This is symptomatic of something impacting connectivity, not DNS.

On the enterprise level, it's still allowable to have to wait 24-48 hours for a name server change to propagate. How fast does it occur on the local machine level?

See above. But again, that would yield a non-resolve not an intermittent situation.

Flushing the machine's cache is easy, not going to hurt, and at least provides a clear baseline to work from.
Sure, but given the duration of the issue, the cache will have already expired multiple times at this point. My suggesting to use OpenDNS instead of the router was on the off chance that the router was intermittently not resolving queries.

I'd also suggest having the OP run a traceroute on the unreachable sites and see where it goes (and terminates).
That's a good suggestion primarily because it might cast some light on whether it was trying to get to the site via IPv6 or IPv4.

And if the OP has a spare networking adapter handy, it could also be used to help eliminate a bad network card. My anecdotal experience includes two office Dells with network ports that died, and were replaced with network cards, though I don't recall if the failures mode was partial or total.

As I said, I'm not a Windows IT guy, so feel free to take what I say FWIW, but they are not uncommon troubleshooting techniques.

No problem. He already tested with his WiFi card (you may have missed that) and the issue persists, so it definitely seems isolated to the computer itself, given as he said, the other computer in the house is not having the problem, both connected to the same router.

I recently came across a very similar issue with a computer that was trying to funnel things through IPv6, which is why I've suggested he disable that. If that doesn't work, the next thing is to go through the list of installed applications, as something is obviously impacting this computer, regardless of the connection used, and not the other.
 
This morning I tried accessing my credit union's account access tab and got the error message. I just tried it now and it allowed me in.

For the last couple of days I have been able to access the bobistheoilguy website without getting the error message.

Yesterday evening I was watching a video on YT and clicked on the link in the description to read the newspaper article about the incident I was watching. It let me in to read it. I finished reading and clicked out. about five minutes later I clicked the same tab again to re-read something in the article and then it would not let me in and I got the connection error message. Refreshing the page did nothing.
 
This morning I tried accessing my credit union's account access tab and got the error message. I just tried it now and it allowed me in.

For the last couple of days I have been able to access the bobistheoilguy website without getting the error message.

Yesterday evening I was watching a video on YT and clicked on the link in the description to read the newspaper article about the incident I was watching. It let me in to read it. I finished reading and clicked out. about five minutes later I clicked the same tab again to re-read something in the article and then it would not let me in and I got the connection error message. Refreshing the page did nothing.

And this is all with IPv6 disabled, correct?
 

OK, so:
- We know it isn't hardware because it persists across two adapters, one wired, one wireless
- We assume it isn't the router, because your other client is fine
- It's intermittent and persisted for quite a while so it is doubtful to be in any way related to DNS
- You've disabled IPv6 and it is still happening, so we know it isn't protocol related

This leaves us at something on your computer interrupting the connections.

Are you able to use the snipping tool to capture what's installed on your PC under Programs and Features in Control Panel? If the list is long, it may take 2 or more snips.
 
OK, so:
- We know it isn't hardware because it persists across two adapters, one wired, one wireless
- We assume it isn't the router, because your other client is fine
- It's intermittent and persisted for quite a while so it is doubtful to be in any way related to DNS
- You've disabled IPv6 and it is still happening, so we know it isn't protocol related

This leaves us at something on your computer interrupting the connections.

Are you able to use the snipping tool to capture what's installed on your PC under Programs and Features in Control Panel? If the list is long, it may take 2 or more snips.
I am not familiar with the snipping tool and have never used it. How does it work?
 
I'm not finding a Programs and Features section anywhere. When I click the windows icon in the lower left corner it brings up a long list of stuff by alphabetical order and nothing is in there that I see. When I click on the settings tab I don't find it in there either.
 
I am not familiar with the snipping tool and have never used it. How does it work?

Since you have Windows 10, just start typing "Snipping tool" after clipping start and you'll see it. It allows you to capture just a section of the screen for a screenshot, rather than the whole screen, so you can control how much of what's on the screen you grab.
 
I'm not finding a Programs and Features section anywhere. When I click the windows icon in the lower left corner it brings up a long list of stuff by alphabetical order and nothing is in there that I see. When I click on the settings tab I don't find it in there either.

Click on Start -> type "Control Panel" (without the quotes) and you'll see Control Panel pop up in the list. When you have control panel open, on the top right change the view to "small icons" and you'll see Programs and Features listed.
 
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This is everything under control panel.
Perfect, now click on "Programs and Features" there, which you can see is 4th from the bottom in the 2nd column from the end. That will give you a list of your installed applications. You can use the snipping tool to share that list here.
 
Get rid of SmartByte. Pointless and useless.

McAfee WebAdvisor and Webroot SecureAnywhere are legit programs but they are from competing security companies so who knows how they are interacting with each other in the background. Disable or remove them both for the time being while you test.
 
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