diff --git a/dlls/wininet/http.c b/dlls/wininet/http.c
index 41611dc326c..fe127897f5a 100644
--- a/dlls/wininet/http.c
+++ b/dlls/wininet/http.c
@@ -605,6 +605,15 @@ BOOL WINAPI HTTP_HttpSendRequestA(HINTERNET hHttpRequest, LPCSTR lpszHeaders,
     if (NULL == lpwhr->lpszPath)
         lpwhr->lpszPath = HTTP_strdup("/");
 
+    if(lpwhr->lpszPath[0] != '/') /* not an absolute path ?? --> fix it !! */
+    {
+        char *fixurl = HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, strlen(lpwhr->lpszPath) + 2);
+        *fixurl = '/';
+        strcpy(fixurl + 1, lpwhr->lpszPath);
+        HeapFree( GetProcessHeap(), 0, lpwhr->lpszPath );
+        lpwhr->lpszPath = fixurl;
+    }
+
     /* Calculate length of request string */
     requestStringLen = 
         strlen(lpwhr->lpszVerb) +
diff --git a/dlls/wininet/utility.c b/dlls/wininet/utility.c
index 224d9490b13..53601fe3230 100644
--- a/dlls/wininet/utility.c
+++ b/dlls/wininet/utility.c
@@ -113,9 +113,28 @@ time_t ConvertTimeString(LPCSTR asctime)
 BOOL GetAddress(LPCSTR lpszServerName, INTERNET_PORT nServerPort,
 	struct hostent **phe, struct sockaddr_in *psa)
 {
+    char *found;
+
     TRACE("%s\n", lpszServerName);
 
-    *phe = gethostbyname(lpszServerName);
+    /* Validate server name first
+     * Check if there is sth. like
+     * pinger.macromedia.com:80
+     * if yes, eliminate the :80....
+     */
+    found = strchr(lpszServerName, ':');
+    if (found)
+    {
+        int len = found - lpszServerName;
+        char *new = HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, len + 1);
+        memcpy( new, lpszServerName, len );
+        new[len] = '\0';
+        TRACE("Found a ':' inside the server name, reparsed name: %s\n", new);
+        *phe = gethostbyname(new);
+        HeapFree( GetProcessHeap(), 0, new );
+    }
+    else *phe = gethostbyname(lpszServerName);
+
     if (NULL == *phe)
     {
         TRACE("Failed to get hostname: (%s)\n", lpszServerName);