Need Help. DuckDuckGo only works with VPN on my computer

VPN
1

Hi all, first post here, was trying to find relevant help info on this before resorting to making this post.

I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine both on my computer and on my Android phone. On my phone it works normally. On my computer however, it no longer works unless I enable Private Mode with VPN. I use Opera browser both on my computer and my phone. This issue is pretty recent.

There are no problems between Opera and the firewall or antivirus. Opera is set as my default browser too.

I used to use Firefox but ditched it a long time ago because it was causing BSODs.

Any help on this would be appreciated, without having to nuke browsing data. And I’d rather not use Chrome or IE.

If any further clarification or info is needed, please do ask. Thanks.

UPDATE 1 : I tried clearing cookies, site data, autofill form data, cached images, and saved passwords on my PC client. Relaunched Opera, issue not resolved.

UPDATE 2 : I ran the following commands in Command Prompt with Administrator privileges:

- “netsh winsock reset”

- “netsh int ipv4 reset”

Rebooted my computer, still no change.

UPDATE 3 : Moments ago I tried again on my Android phone using WiFi, DuckDuckGo worked normally on Opera mobile. Then I disabled WiFi on my phone, turned on hotspot, connected my computer through hotspot, and used Opera on my computer. DuckDuckGo opened up normally without resorting to Private Mode with VPN.

UPDATE 4 : I tried again on my PC, using my network, without Private Mode and VPN. Once the error page showed up, this is what comes up:

- “This site can’t be reached. DuckDuckGo took too long to respond.”

- “ERR_TIMED_OUT”

- It says the connection to this site is not secure, with an invalid certificate.

It’s worth noting, all of Google.com, Bing.com, Yahoo.com, Yandex.ru work normally on my Opera PC client without resorting to Private Mode and VPN. Although, webpages took a wee bit longer to load this past hour.

Is this something with my Opera PC client, or something with my ISP, or something between DuckDuckGo and the local ISP? because it worked normally on my phone, and cellphone carriers are different from residential internet providers. The weird thing is, DuckDuckGo also works fine on my phone on WiFi. Pretty sure it’s not my antivirus, or my computer’s network config, or my router config (which I just double-checked before updating this post). Any ideas would help. Thanks in advance to anyone reading this post.

UPDATE 5 : Today I restarted my router twice, and it took a wee bit to reconnect. Then I tried using DuckDuckGo on my computer without Private Mode and VPN, and it worked normally. I’m now 100% certain it’s something from my ISP. If this happens again I shall be contacting them. Thanks to everyone who commented on this post, cheers.

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Does it work in a fresh Firefox profile?

3

It works on opera on OP’s computer. The ISP is not to blame

4

Hello, thanks for your response. I’m kinda scared to try Firefox again, it used to give me BSODs so that’s why I stopped using it. I don’t know how stable it is today. That’s why I resorted to Opera this past year. This problem with DDG only working through VPN is pretty recent and I have no clue what causes it.

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Hello, thanks for your response. I’m hesitant to reinstall Firefox. I had stopped using Firefox because it used to give me BSODs so I resorted to Opera.

It works normally on my Android phone, where I also use Opera for mobile. And it worked normally when I connected my computer through mobile hotspot. I double-checked my router config and my computer’s network config, nothing changed in there, and everything looked normal. Also, other search engines work normally on my PC client. I really have no clue what’s causing this with DuckDuckGo on my PC client.

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Opera has a built in VPN (and perhaps also a DNS?) that OP may not be fully aware of.

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Hi guys thanks for the replies. DDG works fine on my Android phone, and it works normal when I enable Private Mode with built-in VPN on Opera on PC. I don’t think the ISP is to blame, otherwise DDG wouldn’t work at all. I’m not sure what’s causing this. Any suggestions might help.

EDIT: I have updated my post. I’m slowly narrowing it down to either something with my Opera PC client, or something from my ISP.