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Shew..now that this page has finally loaded, I can explain my problem and hope you wonderful people here can help me.

This has been going on since about Saturday. I can connect with my DSL. I have already called the DSL place and they said they don't see a problem on that end, but they could be wrong. But as soon as I connect to the internet I go and click on IE and open it up - it takes about 15 mins for a page to load, my pages use to load in 10 seconds. My Windows LIVE Messenger WON'T connect, but If I use the Windows Messneger that comes with the computer(same as MSN) it will. Also, when I go to download something Spybot or any program it takes a little while to download and then once it gets done, it tells me its not a vaild Win32 app. Or I need a disk. Or the file may be corrupt. Also, I can't update my Ad-Aware defintions or update my Avast!

I tried to download HijackThis to see if I could get a log for you all, but it won't let me download anything. Please help. I am desperate for anything.

I am using Windows XP Pro-IE 7.0

Also, something I might add. A couple of months ago, I got this little blue star ( I call it the blue star of death) in my taskbar saying that my computer might be at risk. It's from Microsoft. Something about my copy of Windows is not legal - would this be causing my IE to act like this?

Thank you for your time,
Sarah

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Dani AI

Generated

A concise troubleshooting roadmap based on the symptoms reported by (very slow IE, downloads ending up as “not a valid Win32 application,” and AV/spyware updates failing). The suggestion from to try a different browser is a valid isolation step, but since downloads fail on this machine, initial work should focus on why downloaded files are being corrupted or replaced.

Common cause and quick checks

  • “Not a valid Win32 application” often means the saved file is not a real EXE (an HTML error page, a tiny stub, or a truncated download). Inspect the downloaded file: check Properties for size, and open the file in Notepad — if it begins with “<html>” or contains readable text, it is not an installer.
  • Launch IE with add-ons disabled to rule out BHOs/toolbars: run iexplore -extoff.
  • Verify IE proxy/LAN settings (Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings). Temporarily uncheck any proxy and “Automatically detect settings.”

Network/stack commands to run from an elevated command prompt

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Notes: sfc /scannow can repair system files but may require the XP CD. chkdsk /f helps rule out disk corruption.

If downloads still fail

  • Use a known-clean PC to download tools (HijackThis, Malwarebytes, Firefox, rescue-ISO) and transfer them by USB. Boot the affected PC into Safe Mode with Networking and run offline scanners.
  • Check the hosts file (C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts) for suspicious entries and check Task Manager for unusual network-using processes.

About the “blue star” (WGA) mentioned by : that notification normally affects activation/Windows Update, not general downloads, so prioritize proxy/LSP/malware and disk checks first. A HijackThis log produced after these steps will give precise indicators for further action.

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Member Avatar for Sarah85

i can't get Mozilla - because I can't download anything. It always tells me the file or program is not a valid Win32 Appilication

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