Member Avatar for hawky

As the title says, I have been having a problem regarding my web browsers for the past 4 days.

My computer is connecting to the internet fine, I am able to use all of my applications such as MSN, Steam and the ITunes store perfectley, however whenever I open a web browser (Firefox or IE) the page simply loads blank.

The day this happened I tried:

Rebooting my modem/router
Disabling all antivirus programmes and firewalls
Ran scans for spyware and viruses

None of these things helped my situation in any way, so I decided to use system restore to revert my registry files back to the last good back up (one week ago). This was successful, after the system restore had finished and I logged back into Windows, I was able to browse the web perfectley.

However, when I started my computer up the following day, the same issue occoured again and I was forced to do another system restore.

So what I would like to know is why is this happening? What is happening (I assume a registry file is being changed)? And what can I do to fix this?

Thanks in advance,

Hawky

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sillyboy

Dani AI

Generated

— the pattern you describe (other Internet apps working, browsers showing a blank page, a System Restore giving a temporary fix) points away from a raw link problem and toward something that changes at the user/profile or system-network layer between boots: proxy/LSP hooks, per-user browser settings or add-ons, or a startup task/driver that interferes with HTTP traffic. and raised useful quick checks; below is a focused, ordered diagnostic path that goes deeper.

Start with simple connectivity and name-resolution checks from a Command Prompt:

ping 8.8.8.8
nslookup www.example.com
tracert www.example.com

If DNS resolves but browser pages remain empty, try loading a page by IP (to bypass DNS) and run the browser without extensions: iexplore -extoff or firefox -safe-mode. If a safe-mode run shows pages normally, the problem is an add-on/extension or per-user profile corruption.

If safe mode does not help, reset the Windows network stack (make a restore point first), then reboot:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns

Also check for system-level interference: examine the hosts file at C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts for unexpected entries, verify there is no HTTP proxy configured (Internet Options → Connections → LAN settings; Firefox: Options → Network Settings), and inspect startup/boot items and BHOs using Autoruns or msconfig. Create a temporary local user account to see if the behavior is user-specific. Review Event Viewer (Application/System) for errors when browsers launch.

Cautions: back up anything you edit, and note that a Winsock reset can remove third‑party network providers (VPN/security clients may need reinstallation). If these steps don’t reveal the culprit, the useful next data are: command outputs above, whether safe-mode fixes it, and any suspicious startup item or hosts entry — those point to whether the change is caused by a scheduled task, driver, or per-user component.

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Member Avatar for The Dude

Welcome to the site :)

Make sure "Work offline" is not checked in IE or FF (Under the file menu)

Sounds like it could be that.....

Good luck :)

Member Avatar for sillyboy

it is probably caused by a windows update. change the settings so that windows will ask you before it installs any updates and then you should be able to determine the cause.

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