Bad Request (Invalid Hostname) -- DNS error or gnarly something else?

[Matt_T_hat]

OK the thing I would like examined for comment is a pair of BMP files in a zip.

First let me explain what you are looking at.

The screenshots show My IE6 and a DOS window.

The DOS window has run ping against the domain that is showing as faulty.

The domain is www.mad-den.co.uk also pinged mad-den.co.uk with same results then to check pinged scarlet.mad-den.co.uk

They all reside on a single hosting account located in the US (For us UK peeps the exchange rate means a years top hosting on a PHP server can cost less than a pint of beer).

The second screen shot shows another IE6 window viewing the location of scarlet.mad-den.co.uk (a folder in mad-den.co.uk)

Now the message: Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)
It's not the first time I've had this issue test.ntfs.net showed it while ntfs.net worked fine. I understand that hosting in that case was simply.com I contacted the site owner who could see no problem.

It's not spyware I am sure as I run Adaware 6 and have Panda Internet security plantinum (firewall, AV and spamfilter). Panda were one of the first to add scumware to the virus list.

I have seen other versions of this error on sites I know well.

The "Google error" was common. The Apatche (or whatever the spelling is) Server error on Windows IIS sites and sometimes for iFrame adverts. And general variations on the theme.

The worst of this kind was when Blogger.com (who google own) comment and feed back system started resolving to another website.

There is a java exploit that effects all browsers meaning a site could hijack a named known window. But this does not seem to be the issue.

9/10 pumping refresh for 30 seconds fixes the problem.

I found reference to this error here: http://forums.devshed.com/archive/t-115310 but there was no conclusion drawn.

I also understand that verisign DNS started to redirect failures to thier search page... this leads to a security issue.

Beyond this I am at a compleate loss.