Topic: No net connections are possible?!

[FireSeraph]

Ok, first off, thx for the people in this forum, I have heard great things from PC Pals.  Here is the problem:  I am not sure when and how it started but I cannot make any net connections it seems.  For example, I cannot connect to a server that runs the popular online game America's Army, and I cannot connect to any trackers with bittorrent and I cannot connect to msn messenger and I also cannot connect to www.gmail.com for some reason.  However, I can search the internet.  I have ran virus removal tools and it caught 3 trojans the first time.  I removed those but the problem still remained.  Then I ran another virus scan and it found 5 viruses with the name Java in them.  Yet, I still cannot make any of those connections.  I am stumped.  Here are my PC specs:
XP home
64 bit AMD 3200+
1 Gig PC3200 DDR RAM
200 Gig hard drive
HP computer

[sam]

ok...welcome!!  

few other pieces of info that might be useful - what firewall software do you use, what isp (some block certain connections - might explain the game / torrents),  and what antivirus / spyware do you use?

Has this computer ever been on the net or is this a recent development.

[Sandra]

Apart from some ISPs blocking certain ports as Sam says, some sites also have a thing that asks for a referrer to be sent back.
This is to stop bots and such I think.

If you temporarily disable your firewall/s and find you can access those sites ok then you need to look in the advanced settings part and look for allow referrer or allow incoming requests  

[FireSeraph]

well, the thing is that I used to be able to make those connections and it has been about a week now that I can no longer make them.  I just have the standard windows firewall and thought that might be causing it but no, I have it turned off and the advanced settings all allow bittorrent and armyops to go through.  I just used the normal AVG 7.0 for the virus scan.  My ISP is through Insight Broadband.  Here is the kicker though, I am sharing this connection with my roommate and he is able to connect to msn America's Army and the like but I can't as of a week ago.  On one of the virus scans it found an additional 5 viruses with the title of Java....  I removed them, but it seems like the damage was already done unless there is something else I am missing  :?

[Sandra]

You say you are sharing the connection, is that via a router or through one pc connected by a modem ?

[davy51]

Sandra it sounds like his internet options security settings in I.E. have changed


one of the viruse may have reset the security settings

my girlfriend had the same problem last week and thats what caused hers

he could try setting all to default and see if that helps

[FireSeraph]

sorry I didn't specify, yes I am connected via router.  I reset all my I.E. securities to default and restarted my computer but I still have the problem.

[FireSeraph]

well hey guys get this:  I restored the defaults on my windows firewall and then I deleted Norton Personal Firewall and then restarted my computer.  Then I went to the Windows Firewall and added the programs and the ports that I wanted open for the applications and bingo! Everything is working nicely again  

[sam]

could well have been an issue with running both the windows (uselss really if im honest but behind a router should be fine) firewall and the norton one.... the combination could have been blocking all ports!

[Simon]

It may have been because you were running two firewalls simultaneously - not a good idea.  Stick to one or the other (Norton is probably better than the Windows Firewall), and you should be OK, but get yourself Spyware Blaster, which helps stop spyware, and keep your anti virus protection up to date.  You do have anti virus software installed and running, and not just using an online scanner, yes?

[sam]

ummm do i hear an echo, lol :-) ... at least we are all on the same wavelength (which is actually quite terrifying!)

[FireSeraph]

Spyware Blaster do you say?  Yeah I have Sophos as my antivirus scanner so I think I am in good shape, unless you can recommend a better one.  The funny thing is that I always disabled the Norton firewall at the beginning because it was in my startup folder, but recently it wasn't showing up and yet it was turned on.  Oh well, thanks for the help, I wouldn't have gotten it if I hadn't turned here first. :wink:

[sam]

personally I would use (and do use) AVG for my virus protection but it does depend on the level of interaction you want to have with your system.

Oh and might be useful worth popping by every so often, occasionally clive gives us something to chuckle at and you never know the wonders that Sandra will help people fix (some interesting reading)... maybe this sounds too much like an advert! lol

[Simon]

I have always used Norton Anti Virus, and now have Norton Internet Security Suite, and have only had one virus in 5 years.  Can't comment on any others, although Sygate used to be a good alternative firewall, until Norton swallowed it up!   :evil:

[DualBoy]

Usually sell Norton and McAfee to clients. I am not a fan of either software but cant exactly sell them AntiVir or AVG LOL

Personally not using any antivirus software but then again there are many steps to protection and antivirus software is not something that keeps you safe 100% of the time. Just be smart of what you do. Keep a good firewall configured dont use IE and Outlook express is not your friend.

Try antivir its great I find and uses a small foot print about 1/3rd that of nortons bloatware as I call it Spyware you can use SB S&D, Yahoo Antispy, MS Antispy etc... but really just change to spybot and dont be installing software that you are unfamiliar with. No more kazaa and such.

And remember an asprin a day keeps the Asprin companies in business.