I am running Windows XP with SP2 installed. I connect to the web via a fixed wireless modem which looks like a cable modem to the computer. I have ZoneAlarm 3.1.195 installed which has worked successfully for many years.
Last Monday my copy of Norton AntiVirus expired so I installed a new version (Norton Systemworks 2006) and also ran Windows Update which picked up all the patches (not including the September 11 patches). I did not install the .NET patches. Since then my connection has become extremely unstable.
On my WIndows programs I frequently get "unable to find page" type error messages (I forget exact wording) which I would normally see if there was no internet connection. I try Internet Explorer 6, Outlook Express 6, Firefox 1.5, several Java apps, and a Windows FTP client and all get unable to connect or unable find pages errors. However, while I am stuck in this situation where nothing can get out, I tried going to a DOS box and pinging
www.yahoo.com and another site. PING returned successful responses and my PING times were normal. So, I suspect that the internet connection is working but Windows has a problem.
I run Spybot, Nortoan AntiVirus, and AdAware every evening and no problems are reported. When I look at Add/Remove Programs applet I see a couple of Windows Update files but not many.
Suggestions?
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