can't log on to internet, Please help! Please, any advices will be appreciated!

[princejoe]

for some reason, my home computer can't log on to internet. Maybe I should say, I was able to dial up my computer onto internet, but when try to click on Internet Explorer, it comes up with a error page, and usually the ICQ would automatically turn on once the PC connectioned, but the ICQ icon keeps on searching(blinking). I am currently using "Metconnect"(I am not sure if people out of New York heard of this, it's a free service with no ad and no banner too) and "AT&T" as my internet service providers. Since "Metconnect" is free and once in a while the server will be busy, so I thought it was normal, but when I tried AT&T, I got the same error page, which never happened to me, altho AT&T has a banner on, but its connections has always been very good. For two days, it's still doesn't work, So I decided to install AOL free CD software I got in the mail, but the same thing happened. I was wondering what could possibly caused this? I know I deleted some programs before all this happened, but those programs was not running in the systme for a while already because I check it off in the startup(msconfig). the program is called "webhancer", I didn't even know how I got this program, not sure if it came with Metconnect or some other programs. It's a program used to track the PC user's internet activities, not sure if u called a spy software. Please give help me out, any advices will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Kerrle]

Well, there's certainly nothing wrong with getting rid of webhancer - it's spy/adware that probably got installed when you installed something else, and shouldn't hurt you to get rid of.

I don't know what's causing your problem, but if you've installed AOL, you're most likely not going to be able to get back online easily; AOL in the past (and I think still does) changed some winsock stuff that made it VERY difficult to get online with a normal internet service while it was installed.

 

[princejoe]

thanks for the reply, kerrle. I think I need to tell u this, I had installed AOL prior to this, about a month ago, I was thinking of give AOL a try, since it's free anyway(1000 hours for 45 days), but there were some system crashes after the AOL installation, so I didn't really use it that much. So on Sunday night, I decided to clean up my desktop by deleting/uninstall "webhancer" and all the programs which AOL forced me to install without asking my permission, then next day I found out that I can't get on the internet. It's so weird, the computer is fine, it boot up without a problem, I could also play PC games, but just not to the internet tho. As I mentioned before, I installed AOL again because I thought something was wrong with "Metconnect" and "AT&T", but the computer still couldn't connect to the internet, and it installed all these programs without asking me again, also, there is a "network neighborhood" icon on my desktop page, it was never there before, not sure if it came with AOL, should I delete it?

 

[Kerrle]

No, you shouldn't just delete it - Network Neighborhood shows up if you're running any network protocols or have a network adaptor installed. In fact, you can't delete it, though you can remove it from your desktop.

Uninstall AOL - that is something you definitely need to do. You may also have to remove and then re-add any dial-up networking you had installed to undo the damage that AOL did when it installed.

But I'm not an expert when it comes to the damage AOL does - the last time I had it on one of my systems was several years ago for my parents. There are probably other people on the board that can help you more than I can.

 

[princejoe]

Kerrle, thanks for the reply again. The first time I installed AOL which was a month ago, then I stopped using it because it caused my computer crashed a few times, but I was able to "Metconnect" and "AT&T" after that without any problem. I never had this problem until after I deleted the programs I mentioned before. So webhancer is a spyware, right? Anyone who knows how to deal with this, please give me some help, thanks.