Wierd problem with IE please help

[The_Computer_Wizard]

ok a friend of mine is running windows vista, and as of yesterday ie stopped working
just keeps saying page cannot be displayed
also aol instant messenger isnt working

however msn instant messanger IS working
they can see their friends
they can send and receive messages

we have run virus scans
ran a registry cleaner
ran ad-aware
and combofix

everything came back clean

uninstalled aim
disabled norton and windows firewall

can ping the router and google

no one else on the connection is having a problem
(however its a dorm router, so dont have access to checking it)

also ie7 doesnt work in safe mode with networking
nor does the computer work on either wired or wireless

also im pretty sure the hardware is working fine

so im kinda at a loss....
any input here would be nice

[>Omen<]

It could be malware that changed your browser settings. Can you go into Internet Properties and force IE as your default browser? If so, do that, then restore all default settings in IE. If that doesn't work I suggest running more scans with some good malware tools like SpyBot, HijackThis, etc.

Make sure your net connection is solid though. If necessary, hook it up to one that you know is.

[G33kinator]

I recommend useing Firefox and getting a add on called IE TAB witch will let you go to sites that Forces you to use IE.

i dont recommend you guys to use IE as IE has meny risks. also. IE 8 beta is out i would sugjest you guys install that and see if it works. you can also uninstall IE from vista and yes you can iv done it

[Sgt. D. Pilla]

I've seen a similar thing to this before at work.
Everything indicated they had network and internet connectivity, and yet they couldn't browse network shares/mapped drives, and couldn't access the net.

Run MalwareBytes AntiMalware, remove all it finds, But look out for a file called tcpsr.sys, thats the culprite file.
If MalwareBytes detects that file, then you'll have to boot into safemode, run sdfix fully (As in boot into normal mode all the way) then run ComboFix in safemode again.
Re-Run MalwareBytes, after that you should be able to access the internet fine.

This client got the Phail (With capital P!) XP AntiVirus 2008 (And got 09 varient a few days later :\)

[*Daedalus]

Be sure that you have IPv4/6 enabled in your wireless/LAN connection also. That can sometimes randomly disable itself.