How to fix Internet acces quirk?

After you've reviewed Thinkpads_User's suggestions, you might consider consulting your ISP.  I've come across several instances where users would attempt to access websites and have this issue, especially when accessing encrypted websites such as banking and Email sites.  Typically, the solution was to adjust the ISP's connection to a proper MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) size.  A knowledgeable representative at your ISP should be able to help you regardless.

For more on MTU - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_transmission_unit.

Hope this helps...

Mike

Is she using a wired or wireless connection?

Thank you all.  She is using a wired connection and I am heading over her house now.  Be back in a few hours to comment.  I will use your suggestions while I am there.

Gentlemen,

I am at my sisters.  Here is what is happening..  Firefox does not load to Homepage.  IE does not load the homepage.  HOWEVER, AOL-Explorer DOES allow normal internet browsing including logging onto her email and banking sites.  So it appears that AOL explore is hijacking my sisters ability to use IE or Firefox.  
What do I do now ?

Thanks

Two things:
1. Uninstall AOL to see if things return to normal.
2. Run a very thorough malware scrub
.... Thinkpads_User

will do--------------thanks

When I uninstalled AOL Explorer then reinstalled it, it no longer allows signing into her accounts.  at least we had that with AOL explorer. now we do not have it with AOL Explore or IE7 or Firefox.  Right back to where we began at the time of my first comment  She cannot get to ANY site that requires a sign in .  All other sites are readily available.

Sorry that is not quite true.  I just signed in from her PC.  What the _______?

I need some input here please.  This is a desperate situation.  I am really stumped.  There is no rhyme or reason here.  I can sign in to EE.  I CANNOT sign into MOST  other sites like gmail-yahoo mail-hotmail-MS live .  None of those will allow a sign in, just timing out after a while.  The internet connection DOES work however.  It goes to  Aol homepage on Firefox and MSN homepage on IE.  I was able t use AOL explorer for a short while, which is based on IE, in a completely normal fashion until I uninstalled it and reinstalled it.  Why I would do that when it was workiing fine, I will never know?  That is no one's fault but mine, so please do not think I am blaming anyone.  All comments are welcome.

My sister absolutely 100% needs this PC to operate normally for business reasons.  I have run extensive Anti-malware, anti-virus and Anti EVERYthing scans which has taken hours. I used the most up to date Anti viral tools known. ( I was able to update the signatures) No serious trojans showed up that Irecognized and there were no high risk items. several tracking cookies and annoyance bugs but I do not think anything serious.  I do not understand why the PC is selective as to what it allows to access the interent.  Do any of you experts?  Also, no matter what restore point I try to go back to, I receive the "Unsuccessful" error.

This is difficult because the PC is 15 miles of heavy traffic away from me.  But any hints on what to try next would be very welcome.  Reinstallation of Windows is absolutely NOT an option at this time.

For those of you that do not know me, I am a regular visitor here and I am not a real beginner, But I certainly anm not an EXpert either.  Internet connections are NOT my forte and I really need some more feedback.  If this were not a family member I could take all my time and even reformat if I had to, but this is mys siter and I am not going to be allowed to take this PC out of her home.  That is what makes my disappearance of AOL Explorer's perfectly fine connection worse.  She was looking over my shoulder when I did it and she even asked me "why change it if it is working"?   My response was that it only a band aid on a larger wound, so we will uninstall/reinstall.   I got caught and it is a bad situation.

Thank you so much.

You could try reinstalling the latest version of aol explorer and might fix the issue
or:
How long has aol explorer been on that machine?
If it hasn't been installed on it for a long time try system restore back before it was installed. Any programs/updates installed in the restored timframe will be gone. Read this article carefully first http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

I don't know how you scanned the machine, but typically the malware resident in the memory cannot be cleaned by the A/V software used after booting through Windows.

The only thing I can suggest at this time is that you scan your sister's computer using a liveCD.

These are self booting CDs (mostly Unix Based) that have anti-virus built-in.

You'll find a comparison and download links here:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/12/11/13-antivirus-rescue-cds-software-compared-in-search-for-the-best-rescue-disk/

In the past I have personally used Kaspersky LiveCD to good effect.

Hope this helps.

Warm regards,
Sarang

Ok gu7ys I thank you very much.

1- - -  Optoma, I have the newest version of AOL Explorer. Just installed yesterday.  The previous version was on the machine from 2005.  That is what I was talking about.  The old version worked fine.  Then I uninstalled it and installed the newer version.  Now it no longer works.  That is why I am so upset.  It WAS working and I should have left it alone instead of updating it.  And also sir, I said above System Restore will not allow a restoration . "Also, no matter what restore point I try to go back to, I receive the "Unsuccessful" error.">from above.  I have many restore points before the issue started but None of them work.  Trust me please.  I have trise at least 7 times.


2- - - sarangk, I will make each of those live cds. That is a very good site. Thank you.

This is going to take some time (days) because I have to travel to the PC in question each time I get enough research to accomplish something.

And thank you again.

Thanks.  I have Winsock fix on one my usb sticks.  I will try it. What about messing with the ssl settings in IE or FF?  Would you recommend I do that?

Ok thanks again. Will do in the morning.  Got to go to bed now.  you have been a great help.  Whwere do I get :Team viewer" ?

teamviewer is available from teamviewer.com

Please stay in there for me..   I am sooooo very sick.  Been in bed for 2 full days and still feel lousy.  Please follow this question .  I will be back soon.  Going to try showmypc as soon as I feel up to it. Thank you for such a great application.

Still sick. Trying to study a bit about "showmypc" before I try it when I get well.

no problem, I will be here

Hi.  Now that I feel better, I must say that any remote program does me no good if I do not know what to implement while I am there in the other PC.  This thing is still very strangely stubborn and is still not fixed.  SUMMARY:  I have done all that has been suggested here and there is no change.  Any more thoughts form the Experts?

did the winsock fix do anything?
does a computer other then hers work attached to her connection? does the other computer do the same thing?

Hi.  The PC is acting in very strange ways.  It actually did not boot for 2 days(while I was sick) It would not even boot into safe mode.  Then suddenly it booted and stayed on.  In my absense, my sister was talking to MS support and they messed around in her registry and ran some AV scans just prior to the non-booting issue.  I have reccommended that she back up all her files while she can.

This now looks like it might be a hardware issue in addition to what ever the initial problem is.  I plan on bringing another PC to her house and trying it out.  Then if I have to, I will bring hers to my house without her looking over my shoulder.  At least then we will be abled to rule out some things.  My guess is that it will act the same way in my house because some setting is messed up.  

I have not been back over there in a week so I am going to close this question and open a new one when I get the PC to my house.  It is impossible to do anything when she is not home and I am ready or when she is ready, I am not available.  That is why there are no other responders to this question anymore besides you.

I thank you so much for staying in there and checking in on me.  You have helped me enough to get the points.

Sorry, I have not been able to try Winsock Fix yet.

2 suggestions by others actually made things worse. That has never happened to me before.  Especially on a family members PC.  You hung in there with me and I thank you for that.  Look for me in the same area in about 10 days.