Brand new laptop unable to connect to internet

[kevnich2]

Um, what are you talking about? The OP has DNS issues which could VERY easily be caused by Mcafee. There's also the http:/// issue which I've always seen on spyware infected machines. The OP could easily have a corrupt tcp/ip stack. And as far as mcafee is concerned, I've seen it cause a lot of issues as does other consumer versions of Norton (NIS in particular) Anyway, you could try a winsock repair tool but I'd look at possibly reinstalling and that should fix it ok.

 

[Tarrant64]

I've just never had problems with McAfee causing any DNS issues, that's all.

 

[JackMDS]

I think that the multiple layers of trouble means.

1. Reinstall the OS.

2. After reinstall Clean up all the trial Junk (if any).

The trial Junk is Not on the computer to do you a favor it is Junky Advertizing.

3. Use Vista Firewall and Defender with one good AntiVirus application (this is free and works well with Vista, http://www.free-av.com/ ) and tell your friend start using your computer like a pro.

 

[bovinda]

Thanks for all the help so far, everyone.

So this laptop didn't come with a recovery CD, evidently, and after it started having problems, I went ahead and activated its recovery program to restore from the factory install off the partition. The end result - no improvement; exact same problem. (This was before I had run Malwarebytes and found those weird registry keys.) It makes me think maybe there was something wrong with the factory install to begin with, like Tarrant had suggested. I know it's unlikely, but I don't know what else could be the culprit.

In any event, he's taken it out for a bit, so I can't work on it at the moment, though I will post back later. But while he's away, I've got to ask - what's bad about Norton IS 2009? I'd heard over on the security forum they got rid of a lot of the bloat and that it had good detection rates. (I ask partly because I'm running it on two out of my three machines. 🙂 )

In any event, I will post back in a bit once the laptop is back and I can work on it some more. I really appreciate all your help, guys!

 

[bovinda]

So my buddy ended up going to return the laptop. In light of everything that transpired, I'm not sure that wasn't a bad idea.

I really want to thank you guys for the help - you were all awesome. I'm sorry there was no resolution that I could write about, but both he and I really appreciated your guidance. You guys make the internet a better place. 🙂 Seriously! Thanks again. :beer: