Blank browser windows; limited internet access

Hello,

I am posting a problem and a solution. Suddenly, I had limited internet access. Only my windows update would work. All my browser windows were blank, skype did not work, my POP email did not work, I could not update AVG, etc.

I ran AVG, malwarebytes, and windows defender (the latter took about 6 hours to do the entire harddrive). Threats were removed/isolated, but still no internet.

Then I went to the command prompt (run as an administrator).

In windows 7, this is done by clicking on start, typing "command prompt" into the box, right clicking "command prompt" at the top, and choosing "run as an administrator."

Then I typed: netsh winsock reset

and hit return.

I rebooted and everything was back to normal. My theory is, the problems were removed by the scans done first, but the "winsock" file had been corrupted and had to be replaced.

In the studies which I did, one suggestion was resetting the host file and the program "host expert" was suggested. I think there is a similar program called "replace host." I did not try that approach.