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I am posting here in the hope that someone will help, I am a Mac user and know very little about PC operating systems, however I need help with regards to a Windows XP problem. My b/f cannot connect to the internet and we fear/think it may be a virus? Basically all we know is that when the computer came on there was some kind of message like.. "MSN Messenger cannot open.." then something about virus protection... but then.. it said "cannot connect to internet provider". All I know is that the computer is reeealllly slow or nothing works at all, the startup taskbar does nothing when clicked. He has Norton (but I'm not sure if he can access this as the startup task bar doesn't work - again I may be wrong I have never used Windows XP in my life - or a PC). Please someone help us?
(I hope I posted this in the correct place.. if not then my apologies..)
How does he connect to the Internet?
What service is he connecting though?
Right-click "My Computer", and select Properties. Go to the hardware tab, and click on the "Device Manager". Look for any Question marks, and make sure your modem, or NIC/Network card is listed.
If he has high speed access, and connects through an Ethernet/NIC/Network card,...
Type the following command, in the run box.
cmd /k ipconfig
Make sure it has an IP, that is not 169.xxx.xxx.xxx, it should be 192.xxx.xxx.xxx instead.
Then Right-click "Network Neigborhood", or "My Network Places", and select properties. Make sure that the default device is not grayed out.
Then type this command in a run box.
cmd /k ipconfig /renewall
That should get him a new IP, and allow you to connect.
Symatec says that issue was fixed in June of 2004, and all that is needed, is a good LiveUpdate. Maybe it has resurfaced, or your friend installed Norton 2003, or 2004, and has not yet updated. If that is the case, then all that should be needed, is a reinstall, followed by a Live Update.
Tough to do on dialup though... It will probably take a while, and hopefully the connection will not close, before it finishes.
That error just means that Norton can't protect you from Viruses, or Malicious code, sent through Yahoo, AIM, or MSN. So don't download anything, click on any links, or visit any questionable chat rooms. I know a number of people who have gotten viruses through MSN, or Yahoo.
If you want a good free anti-virus, with IM scanning, then I recommend Avast. I usually recommend AVG, but I don't think AVG has IM scanning. http://www.avast.com/
ok, ty for the reply (and in such simple terms I can understand it for once lol *yay*)so a re-install of Norton and a live update hoping the connection isnt lost while updating.. And that should do the trick?
You may also want to check Windows Update for the latest updates. I had a worm that would not allow me to connect at one time, and when it did finally connect, the connection was flooded so bad, that It was too slow to do anything! Let alone update Windows!
I had a friend who had a cable connection. I took my PC to his place and hooked into the cable and then updated Windows, got AVG free anyivirus, and got everything working again!
Just out of interest, what would have happened if it was 169.x.x.x?
With Dialup, that is probably what it is.
99.9% of the time, that is the Microsoft Windows Network IP range. It is automatically assigned, when Windows cannot find any IP servers. I just can't remember the other two, of the first three numbers.
The odds would be of a problem somewhere in the connection. Either the modem is off (doubtfull), a wire has shorted, the modem has glitched, or crashed, etc... It could be a loose cable, or an improperly configured Firewall.
There is actually almost no telling, but if it gets an IP other than 169.x.x.x, then it rules out all of the above issues. Usually that IP is in the 192.168.x.x range, when it works. The first part of troubleshooting, is isolating what the problem is not, then attempting to determine what the problem is.
From there would have analyzed the response, and posted another message. One which would either contain the solution, or further procedures, to isolate the problem. Post too much at 1 time, and it becomes confusing to the reader. Few people like to read long posts. This process is benefitial to all, because they can understand it better, and I get a higher post count.
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