Browsers all stop. Router is fine.

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Spaceweed Posts 1 Registration date Friday November 28, 2008 Status Member Last seen November 29, 2008 - Nov 29, 2008 at 02:10 PM
 onejohn512 - Aug 10, 2010 at 08:11 PM
Hello,

Recently, without installing any new software, my browsers all eventually stop. Firefox is my main, and would be the first to fall after about 45 mins, Then Safari and Opera and all othe browser stop too about 15 mins later. It's not a virus as I have scanned my entire system, with 3 scanners and to no avail. My router is absolutely fine, all my other consoles and systems still work fine, even the problem computer can still connect to game servers and hamachi client. So I am stumped. Oh and it is not my firewall either.

EDIT: On a stranger note after this happens the computer will not shutdown until 10 mins after I tell it to.

I am using Windows Vista SP1 (32 bit)

My router is a Netopia 2247-02

Thanks or the help in advance! :)

Spaceweed
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16 responses

rubrami281 Posts 164 Registration date Tuesday September 30, 2008 Status Member Last seen February 3, 2009 104
Dec 1, 2008 at 07:47 AM
From what I've gathered, both Avast and Zone Alarm create browser problems. I strongly recommend AVG Free. In my opinion, it's the best and most of all it's FREE. Now, my guess is that your browser's been hijacked or corrupted, so here's some nfo 4 u 2 follow. C if it helps u any:

The following six tips can help restore your browser's settings:

1. Stop cascading pop-up windows.

If a seemingly endless number of pop-up windows appear on your screen, you'll probably want to stop the deluge first. To do this in Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000 while using Internet Explorer:

1.


Press CTRL+ALT+DEL, click Task Manager, and then click the Processes tab.

2.


Click IEXPLORE.EXE, and then click the End Process button.

This closes all instances of Internet Explorer. Then you can re-open the program to continue browsing as usual. To help prevent future attacks, you should also have a pop-up blocker turned on. To turn on the pop-up blocker in Internet Explorer 7:

1.


Click Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Privacy tab.

2.


In the Pop-up Blocker box, select the Block pop-ups check box. Click OK.

If you still experience the other effects of a hijacked Web browser, try the following:

2. Install preventive software such as the kinds mentioned in the preceding Preventing browser hijacks section. Many browser hijacking programs can be identified and removed by downloading, installing, and running these programs.

3. Run the malicious software removal tool. This can catch some, but not all, kinds of hijacking software.

4. Reset Internet Explorer settings. If you're using Internet Explorer and your home page has been changed, you can often reset it yourself.
-

Close any Internet Explorer or Windows Explorer windows that are currently open.
-

Open Internet Explorer.
-

Click Tools, and then click Internet Options.
-

Click the Advanced tab, and then click Reset.
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In the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, click Reset.
-

When Internet Explorer finishes restoring the settings, click Close, and then click OK.
-

Close Internet Explorer.

Your changes will take effect the next time you open Internet Explorer.

5. Disable add-ons. Many browser hijackings come from add-ons, also known as ActiveX controls, browser extensions, browser helper objects, or toolbars. These items can improve your experience on a Web site by providing multimedia or interactive content, such as animations. However, some add-ons can cause your computer to stop responding or display content that you don't want, such as pop-up ads.

To learn how to disable add-ons in Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2), read How do browser add-ons affect my computer?

6. Removing unwanted programs with the Add/Remove feature

If you're ready to try some advanced removal methods, the Microsoft Help and Support article Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software provides additional steps you can take, including how to use the Add/Remove feature, the built-in program remover, and the program finder in Windows Explorer.

7. Empty the Recycle Bin when you've finished these steps, especially if you've removed an unwanted program. Then restart your computer.
2
I have the same problem and it is so annoying, I have tow ways to solve it (restart and the other one), but maybe we all are in diferents scenarios. In my case started to happen since I have my computer with IIS7 serving a aspnet web page and almost all the time and when it happen to me I am developing something with VS2005, I notice if you start the "ASP .Net Development server", 100% of the times all the browsers start to work again, yes I know is weird, all the times I had this problem it worked for me.

But I am sure the VS2005 is not the problem, cuz I've working with it several years and never happened, and now it happen even if I am not using it. So right now I am looking for the solution on internet, but if I cant find it I will have to investigate for the services and applications that this server reset or start, cuz I know that could help to fix this problem.

If someone already have the fix for this please let me know, I am tired of this Issue and I cant find the problem, If someone have somthing in commun with me, let me know (IIS7 working and VS2005, same Win Vista as you mentioned).

If I cant find something, I will try to find for my self and share with you all ;) ... I hope there is another one and I didnt notice, cuz I dont want to complicate my self. :p

So, if works and is easy to you, Run the "ASP .Net Development server", when you have this problem
(
In my case I run this command:
start /B %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\webdev.webserver.exe /path:"D:\MyFolder" /vpath:/HelloWorldWebSite
You have to create a shity website to use this thing, but when you have the problems every day a lot of times and you cant reinstall windows, you consider to do this stupid fix.
)

but it is soooooo annoying do this only for this thing, but I prefer this and no reboot my machine... gosh!! I am tired and I have to SOLVE this in a decent way. No this, but by now is the only one I have.

If someone find something let me know, I will do the same :)

Regards,
Rolo, from CR
1
PaulvFinch Posts 1 Registration date Monday June 15, 2009 Status Member Last seen June 16, 2009
Jun 16, 2009 at 06:56 AM
Best solutions to fix this problem:-

Switch from Avast (if you are using it) to AVG (free version)

Switch from zone alarm (if you are using it) to pc tools firewall (or any other just not zone alarm I have ound pc tools great)

Disable the t604 adapter in the device manager menu in control panel. (vista users only)


This should fix this very annoying problem.

this fixed my acer 6920g & my flat mates HP DV7 2050

hope this helps guys please feel free to contact me.

Paul Finch (paulvfinch@gmail.com)
1
Hi,

Recently I also faced the same issue with my HP laptop and as the Post Owner mentioned, I couldnt access the internet in any of the browsers I had (FF or IE or GC or Safari).

But all this started happening quite recently RIGHT AFTER I started getting the POP-UP for Zone Alarm during the Startup asking me if I need to upgrade or not. Before this annoying pop-up, there was no issue with any of my browsers.

Anyways, when I went thru the other posts in this thread, I realised tat Zone Alarm could be the problem and I uninstalled it. I am actually using Norton Internet Security and it seems to run fine. As for after removing Zone Alarm, my system seems to be running fine.

And I didnt uninstall or reinstall any of my browsers or NIS.

So try uninstalling the ZONE ALARM and check if this problem still persists.

If it does, I am not sure what is the reason.

But hope this resolves your problem

----

Happy Surfing!!!!
1

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OMG THANK YOU ALL. I been having the same problem for MONTHS. Vista 32 bit here and I don't use IE im a Chromie and Firefox for backup. I would surf the net and then everything would stop. However gtalk and World of Warcraft would still go. So my router was sweet and connection fine. I tried everything. But after reading some of the posts I see it was all ZONEALARM. so I unistalled it and now using PC tools firewall. I also use AVG free. Thank you all :)
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I've noticed all browsers not working. Most other applications work. What I discovered was free Antivirus software AVG process called avgnsx.exe has crashed in a way that grabs all port 80 traffic among others and redirects it to 10080 on localhost. Solution is to kill AVG and reload then things are fine.
1
rubrami281 Posts 164 Registration date Tuesday September 30, 2008 Status Member Last seen February 3, 2009 104
Nov 29, 2008 at 05:23 PM
A word of advise: Do not have more than 1 Anti-Virus on your PC running at 1 time. U can have as many as u like, but b sure that only 1 is enabled. The problem with running more than 1 at the same time is, compatibility, non-detections, and false positives. Now, u can run 1 Anti-virus and say 2 Anti-Spywares with no problems. I always recommend AVG Free or Pro Anti-Virus (Beware of fake Anti-Virus 2009), and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. If u r running Vista on your PC u should already have Windows Defender, which is OK. Secondly, it sounds like 1 of your internet browsers is corrupt. I would run a Systems restore back 2 the day b4 your problems began. Once created, then run a full system scan with your Anti-Virus. B sure 2 update your Anti-Virus b4 u run a scan. C if this nfo helps u.........Good Luck!!!!!!!
0
I had the same problem due to a virus, I think. I do not have ZoneAlarm. Furthermore, the registry editor would not open, even in Safe Mode. All virus scanners reported no problems. The only program that dealt with it was Combofix!
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Neat try, but I dont have any firewall or AV software. Fresh reformat, and this computer is the gateway for my network. Here's the neat part. The other computers on the network can still get online! Even though they connect through mine and mine is being a moron! I can ping, I can tracert, however all sites fail to load and the browser isnt even thinking about it, it just doesnt work at all.
I'm currently trying using openDNS servers to see if this fixes it!
0
I use Outpost Firewall \ AVG Free on Vista 64bit.
I have the same issue.
Browse to some sites and Firefox just gives up on the HTTP request.
I check Outpost and HTTP requests are just sitting there.
Other outbound \ inbound traffic is fine.
If I load IE8 or Opera all HTTP is useless.

I have tried IPConfig release \ renew and this hasn't worked.
In the end only a reboot brings it back. It's not browser related. It seems to be certain sites that seem to hog the HTTP requests preventing any further requests from getting through. What is on the sites I've no idea.
Maybe I'll try NoScript add-on for Firefox to see if I can get through to any of these sites with the scripts disabled?
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Oh, my friend had the same problem and we fixed it with an anti-virus that breaks an application to packages and scans every package seperately rather then the whole file at a time. we target the browsers only and it turned up she had a small virus that couldn't be picked up by other anti-viruses cause it was kinda of choped or something.

Unfortunately I don't recall the name of the program we used to fix it but google should pop something up if you try a few searches.
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I have been reading about all of these problems and what I do know is this: if you are running Vista, have Windows Defender turned off, are running Zone Alarm Free for your firewal and AVG for anti-virus protection (as I am), you can have all kinds of Internet problems. Because with Windows Defender off and Windows firewall disabled, it changes the security settings for Windows Internet Explorer that will not allow some things to be accessed or sometimes, it will just stop runnning.

The fix is complicated and time comsumig but it worked for me. I turned Windows Defender back on, shut down Zone Alarm and turned Windows firewall back on. Then went to Internet Options in the Control Pannel. Opened the Security portion and went through all the settings for Interned Explorer and wrote them down. I also did this for the Privacy tab, Content tab, and the Advanced tab which are all listed under Internet Options.

Then I closed everything, ran an entire PC scan with AVG. I also ran an entire PC scan with a anti spyware/anti malware program called Ad-Aware Free which is alavilable from www.lavasoft.com. You have to use the www because it is located outside the US. Also, it contains a free rootkit in the program that is real helpful. When both programs came back OK I started all over.

First I turned off Windows Defender, including the Administrator Options, then turned off Windows firewall, and then turned Zone Alarm back on and restarted my PC.

After restart, I went back to Internet Options within the Control Pannel and went through all the settings. I changed all the settings that had been changed by truning off the Windows programs, back to the ones I recorded when these systems were turned on. Then restarted the PC. My problems have not returned since I did all of this several weeks ago. Try this and I hop it works for all of you.
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If all your browser stop working, then you most probably did what I did -deleted or removed anti virus (Norton). Fortunately I have safari browser and it is the only browser that was working fine.
Make sure to remove all folders and sub folders, otherwise it works like a virus itself instead of anti virus; learned the hard way. But it is very difficult or impossible for the average Joe to completely remove all the files. I even took it to Best Buy, they wanted to do full diagnostic and fix it which they estimated to cost me around $200.
Anti virus removal software that is available the website (Symantec-Norton website) does not even open. Anyways to make long story short - I downloaded a new anti virus from their website and everything started working fine. I paid $34.99/ year for Norton 2010, I guess you can't get rid of them once you get them.

FYI, if you don't have any other browser working at all, you may need to find a CD to download the software (anti virus). I hope this will save you some time and money.
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ok I had the same problem for like a year now or something like that. So I decided to let you guys know. first my problem involved Zonealarm so if you don't have zonealarm and have this problem my solution won't work. this is for people with zonealarm and the connection problem. I went to download.com did a search for zonealarm and took a look at the first free one there. NOT the trial offer but the free one. the #'s said that it was newer then the zonealarm I had so I decided to download and install it. It came out in Nov of 09 by the way. and after it finished installing the problem was gone. Don't knwo if it will come back but if you take a look at the download.com site and check out the free zonealarm and compare the product version # and it's newer then the one your running, try my fix.
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Not sure if this is the answer for you but all browsers stopped working on my sons PC and it looked like I would have to reinstall Vista. However he found a site which said use "Netsh Winsock reset" and they ahev worked fine ever since. Do a search on it before trying if unsure.
0
Had the same problem but fixed it by using Norton Removal tool. If you had Norton then run the-norton removal tool Norton Removal Tool. Norton has a lot of crap that it leaves after uninstall.
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