Can't make new connections to internet and programs can't update

I don't mean to "thread bump", but is this thread at a dead end? I don’t know what all happens when a thread is moved from one category to another, but it’s been nearly 3 days with no activity.

ansley said:

I don't mean to "thread bump", but is this thread at a dead end? I don’t know what all happens when a thread is moved from one category to another, but it’s been nearly 3 days with no activity.

Yeah, sometimes things slip through the cracks, I've asked a security expert to have a look.

I've run AdwCleaner and I've pasted the contents of the [R0] report below. As I don't see any program names that I know I want to keep, I went ahead and let AdwCleaner remove what it detected. Hopefully I'm not getting ahead of you by doing so. Following is the report contents:

# AdwCleaner v3.003 - Report created 15/09/2013 at 11:46:42
# Updated 07/09/2013 by Xplode
# Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1 (64 bits)
# Username : Bill - ANSLEY-FAMILY
# Running from : F:\AdwCleaner.exe
# Option : Scan

***** [ Services ] *****


***** [ Files / Folders ] *****

File Found : C:\END
File Found : C:\Users\Nancy\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jt4ov2ua.default\searchplugins\Conduit.xml
Folder Found C:\Program Files (x86)\Conduit
Folder Found C:\Program Files (x86)\SearchProtect
Folder Found C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Roaming\SearchProtect
Folder Found C:\Users\kids\AppData\Roaming\SearchProtect
Folder Found C:\Users\Nancy\AppData\Local\Conduit
Folder Found C:\Users\Nancy\AppData\LocalLow\Conduit
Folder Found C:\Users\Nancy\AppData\Roaming\SearchProtect

***** [ Shortcuts ] *****


***** [ Registry ] *****

Key Found : HKCU\Software\AppDataLow\Software\SmartBar
Key Found : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Settings\{B78F92C8-DEB3-11E2-9A0A-FB64281D6ADE}
Key Found : HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\Stats\{B78F92C8-DEB3-11E2-9A0A-FB64281D6ADE}
Key Found : HKCU\Software\SearchProtect
Key Found : [x64] HKCU\Software\SearchProtect
Key Found : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{3C471948-F874-49F5-B338-4F214A2EE0B1}
Key Found : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{B78F92C8-DEB3-11E2-9A0A-FB64281D6ADE}
Key Found : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\speedupmypc
Key Found : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\Toolbar.CT3309350
Key Found : HKLM\Software\Conduit
Key Found : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{7736C7FA-512D-11E2-B871-DEC36088709B}
Key Found : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{B78F92C8-DEB3-11E2-9A0A-FB64281D6ADE}
Key Found : HKLM\Software\SearchProtect
Key Found : HKLM\Software\Uniblue\DriverScanner

***** [ Browsers ] *****

-\\ Internet Explorer v10.0.9200.16660


-\\ Mozilla Firefox v23.0.1 (en-US)

[ File : C:\Users\Nancy\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jt4ov2ua.default\prefs.js ]

Line Found : user_pref("CT3309350_Firefox.csv", "[{\"from\":\"Abs Layer\",\"action\":\"loading toolbar\",\"time\":1376365828966,\"isWithState\":\"\",\"timeFromStart\":0,\"timeFromPrev\":0}]");
Line Found : user_pref("Smartbar.ConduitHomepagesList", "hxxp://search.conduit.com/?ctid=CT3309350&octid=CT3309350&SearchSource=61&CUI=UN35974218992310520&UM=2&UP=SP29BCB134-A253-4A6D-B014-7C38C3ABA02F");
Line Found : user_pref("Smartbar.ConduitSearchEngineList", "BrowserPlus2 Customized Web Search");
Line Found : user_pref("Smartbar.ConduitSearchUrlList", "hxxp://search.conduit.com/ResultsExt.aspx?ctid=CT3309350&SearchSource=2&CUI=UN35974218992310520&UM=2&q=");
Line Found : user_pref("Smartbar.SearchFromAddressBarSavedUrl", "");
Line Found : user_pref("Smartbar.keywordURLSelectedCTID", "CT3309350");
Line Found : user_pref("browser.search.defaultthis.engineName", "BrowserPlus2 Customized Web Search");
Line Found : user_pref("browser.search.defaulturl", "hxxp://search.conduit.com/ResultsExt.aspx?ctid=CT3309350&CUI=UN35974218992310520&UM=2&SearchSource=3&q={searchTerms}");
Line Found : user_pref("keyword.URL", "hxxp://search.conduit.com/ResultsExt.aspx?ctid=CT3309350&SearchSource=2&CUI=UN35974218992310520&UM=2&q=");
Line Found : user_pref("smartbar.machineId", "WUPDS+IA2XCR81W9SUMSEDB0W5RM8RIYPCTOZ3G04CXYNKS1IAK1/2MI03USTFNSAKIBZZMEYHTKDX3CF1QDDW");

[ File : C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ckwp9n65.default\prefs.js ]


[ File : C:\Users\kids\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\0z31vdux.default\prefs.js ]


*************************

AdwCleaner[R0].txt - [3700 octets] - [15/09/2013 11:46:42]

########## EOF - C:\AdwCleaner\AdwCleaner[R0].txt - [3760 octets] ##########

I reran AdwCleaner, clicked "Clean", and here's the log file...

# AdwCleaner v3.003 - Report created 15/09/2013 at 19:25:39
# Updated 07/09/2013 by Xplode
# Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Service Pack 1 (64 bits)
# Username : Bill - ANSLEY-FAMILY
# Running from : C:\Users\Public\Documents\Bill's Documents\Downloaded computer files\AdwCleaner.exe
# Option : Clean

***** [ Services ] *****


***** [ Files / Folders ] *****


***** [ Shortcuts ] *****


***** [ Registry ] *****


***** [ Browsers ] *****

-\\ Internet Explorer v10.0.9200.16660


-\\ Mozilla Firefox v23.0.1 (en-US)

[ File : C:\Users\Nancy\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jt4ov2ua.default\prefs.js ]


[ File : C:\Users\Bill\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ckwp9n65.default\prefs.js ]


[ File : C:\Users\kids\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\0z31vdux.default\prefs.js ]


*************************

AdwCleaner[R0].txt - [3844 octets] - [15/09/2013 11:46:42]
AdwCleaner[R1].txt - [1138 octets] - [15/09/2013 19:24:44]
AdwCleaner[S0].txt - [3936 octets] - [15/09/2013 12:05:38]
AdwCleaner[S1].txt - [1060 octets] - [15/09/2013 19:25:39]

########## EOF - C:\AdwCleaner\AdwCleaner[S1].txt - [1120 octets] ##########


I then ran TFC and rebooted. I've had the system disconnected from the internet for some time as I wanted to isolate it so that things could not get worse. So I can't speak to improvements with respect to internet performance, but I can say that the system is still hanging frequently. It doesn't take much to test this. I simply open a Windows Explorer window and click on a few directories. Within a few clicks, it hangs for 30 seconds or more. So something is still not right.

I'm to the point I'm thinking I'm going to have to reinstall the system (recommended earlier in this thread), but I'd like to first get some idea of what's wrong so that I don't end up in the same place after reinstalling. After all, I did the original installation on this system only roughly a month ago.