I fixed mine just unpluged my internet for a while released ip first
pluged it back in got a new ip and it works fine and i figured my post might give extra info to help you all out with the other guy

Well try that but i'm pretty sure almost certain that its something to do with the router configurations he has.

Stupid question but how do I release my IP?

* Click on the "Run..." option in your Start menu.

* In the resulting "Open:" box, type "cmd" (omit the quotes) and hit Enter. This will bring up a DOS window.

* At the DOS prompt, type the following command and hit Enter:
ipconfig /release

Thanks for the suggestion 'potatoemaster' but unfortunatley still no success. As I have mentioned earlier in the thread, it concerns me that even if I have cleared the cookies, files and history that when I enter the browser and begin typing 'www.hotmail.com' the URL appears to auto-complete! But then again I can still access Hotmail from the laptop using a workplace connection which leads me to think it could be something to do with the German language router. Are there some particular settings which I should look at in particular on the router which are known to cause this sort of issue?

Are the actual router settings in german or just the manuel because I don't think anyone knows german.

The router settings are in German and also the manual unfortunatley.

Well I Don't know if your willing to buy a new router but if you are then buy one it will fix up the settings and this time you might want to get one in english.

I'm not sure whether at this stage I would buy a new router, the router at the moment was provided by the ISP when I signed up hence the German settings, if I had the choice I would have gone with a Belkin. Prehaps, if you don't mind, you could suggest some possible router settings that I should configure, eg port settings, and I will do my best to locate them on the router using a translator such as Babel Fish.

Not too sure which specific router settings can fix that but I'm sure that DMR knows something about those settings.