After the fun that still is the (apparently) DNS problem - unable to access any site requiring a log in (except for a very rare nanosecond once a day), and no, nice lady at TOT couldn't help, now have Windows Firewall switched to 'Off' and greyed out - can't turn it back on, and must run Spybot several times a day, which throws up a lot of 'problems' which I then must fix.

Re-booted/switched everything off/on several times and even had a monk in to bless it, all to no avail.

Anyone have any idea what's wrong now? And how I can fix the bloody thing? Thanks.

"which throws up a lot of 'problems'"

What problems? Be specific.

Your connection problems may have nothing to do with your ISP, and whatever is turning your firewall off may also be upsetting your login attempts.

Note that there are a plethora of Viruses which disable the Windows Firewall settings through Policy / registry settings, even in Windows XP Home Edition. Therefore, it's a good idea to run a complete Virus scan in your system.

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/resetfwpol.htm

For a fix

Note that there are a plethora of Viruses which disable the Windows Firewall settings through Policy / registry settings, even in Windows XP Home Edition. Therefore, it's a good idea to run a complete Virus scan in your system.

http://windowsxp.mvp.../resetfwpol.htm

For a fix

Wow! Thanks for the link. Followed the instructions and decided to install ERUNT as a complete Registry back up, restarted, checked Firewall and is now safely on

However, still can't access any sites (email specific pain in the bum) and agree with Darrel quite possibly something er, downloaded. Kept getting the usual DoubleClick (particularly from this site, and a new one stood out, namely Zedo, which when Googled shows it as being an ad site of course. I was getting 5 entries every time I ran SpyBot. So hopefully rid of that.

Have run virus scan before (and no harm in seeing if that's the culprit), but forgotten how. Er, can you run me through it please Thanks again.

Note that there are a plethora of Viruses which disable the Windows Firewall settings through Policy / registry settings, even in Windows XP Home Edition. Therefore, it's a good idea to run a complete Virus scan in your system.

http://windowsxp.mvp.../resetfwpol.htm

For a fix

Wow! Thanks for the link. Followed the instructions and decided to install ERUNT as a complete Registry back up, restarted, checked Firewall and is now safely on

However, still can't access any sites (email specific pain in the bum) and agree with Darrel quite possibly something er, downloaded. Kept getting the usual DoubleClick (particularly from this site, and a new one stood out, namely Zedo, which when Googled shows it as being an ad site of course. I was getting 5 entries every time I ran SpyBot. So hopefully rid of that.

Have run virus scan before (and no harm in seeing if that's the culprit), but forgotten how. Er, can you run me through it please Thanks again.

In the first place if you do not know what anti-virus you have, go on line and google - ' on line anti virus' and run one of those. Bitdefender, Kapersky, Panda are all good. Let it run to the end.

If you have t anti-virus software.

If your anti-virus has not got an icon on the bottom right of the screen, go to START, ALL progs and see it there, open it. and run it. Be patient and let it finish.

In either case look to see what ( if any ) virus infections results you have. If you have any, Google them for information.

** Some infections will continue to reinfect if you have 'System Restore' turned on. It may be that you will need to turn off System Restore and run an anti-virus scan again. (If you have infections that are cleaned by a virus scan and they come back on the next re-boot of your computer, that is when you need to turn off System Restore.

I should have mentioned I have Avast and ran a scan. However, solved Firewall problem, but connecting to websites/email accounts still major problem. Fine for five minutes to a few hours and then ... 'connection timed out', again.

Is this my server, TOT? Before I again try to get their engineer round (Fine everywhere else in my locale ...)

What firewall are you using? Windows firewall?

What firewall are you using? Windows firewall?

Yep.

What firewall are you using? Windows firewall?

Yep.

If you have no virus / malaware / trojans and you can access some sites and not others :-

First of all try running the following command from a CMD window:

ipconfig /flushdns

CMD window is - Start, Run, then type CMD and click OK.

Questions.

Are you using Windpows XP?

Did you install Service Pack 3 (SP3) for XP (Using SP3 can cause these problems).

Using IE for the internet or Firefox. (IE still does have a lot of problems and you can try Firefox).

Do you use a router?

If you do, bypass the router and see what happens.

There are so many ways this problem of yours can occur but most are with Internet Explorer, SSL certificates, Clearing the cache and more.

Ran Spybot - clean. Opened the CMD window and ran through the steps. Came up 'Successfully flushed'.

With hope in my heart, tried to open gmail. Same same 'taking too long to respond, timed out', which is ONLY happening with 'sign in' sites - email a/c's/twitter/youtube/facebook, everything else fine :?!

My answers in red:

What firewall are you using? Windows firewall?

Yep.

If you have no virus / malaware / trojans and you can access some sites and not others :-

First of all try running the following command from a CMD window:

ipconfig /flushdns

CMD window is - Start, Run, then type CMD and click OK.

Questions.

Are you using Windpows XP? Yes

Did you install Service Pack 3 (SP3) for XP (Using SP3 can cause these problems)..XP already installed when I bought the computer over 18 months ago and this first time I've had this problem.

Using IE for the internet or Firefox. (IE still does have a lot of problems and you can try Firefox). I use Chrome but have IE and Firefox installed and same problem with all of them.

Do you use a router?

If you do, bypass the router and see what happens. Yes I have a Billion router from TOT. How do I bypass it?

There are so many ways this problem of yours can occur but most are with Internet Explorer, SSL certificates, Clearing the cache and more.