HELP! How do I diagnose connection issues? No idea what's wrong!

[SuperMikeyZ]

I'm having firewall issues...I think...No, scratch that. I have no idea. Something is stopping most of my apps from connecting to the internet, except for browsers. I tried shutting the firewall down, but that didn't help. I'll link to screenshots found in my Google Drive, but they will be deleted once my problem is solved. Gotta save space, I'm already paying for it.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1EOqGAhasRPP8GNSvHLITH-eTq6r5v7kCEZ77iaMe8s0/edit?usp=sharing

And for some history... Let's see... The first weird thing that happened was that my computer was really slow, so I uninstalled several apps that I remember installing but not using. But I decided to do it in Safe Mode since my computer was so bogged down. While the files were erasing, I decided to play games online, but apparently my WiFi card shuts off when I use Safe Mode. Later, I restarted, and it's going WAY faster. So far so good, but later I noticed that my copy of AVG wouldn't update. Then multiplayer games wouldn't work! Then I tried installing Firefox Aurora (Their nightly build version). It needs to update right before you install, so you get the installer, and it downloads the updated portions. Result: FAIL. And I also use PortableApps.com software, and they quit updating too! And I also use a browser with built-in security called Comodo Dragon. FAIL. Nothing's working! What's going on?!

I've tried a lot of things to solve it. Tweaking firewall options, shutting the firewall down, scanning for what viruses I can find while handicapped... Nothing is helping. Can I get a hand here?

 

[UsernameIssues]

Welcome to the Seven Forums.

You can post/host imagines on the forum:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

You could try a scan with WDO:
What is Windows Defender Offline?

And you might want to try the steps here...
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ation-conflicts-performing-clean-startup.html
...to see if some app is causing this.

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

Hey, I just tried the WDO. It failed. "Error code:0002-80072EFD". The Curse of the Internet Connection strikes again!

Haven't tried the Clean Startup, but I have tried Windows SafeMode. Is that the same thing? I'm going to try the Clean Startup later anyway, just updating.

 

[UsernameIssues]

Under anti-virus, you listed: various. Use all free ones I can find.

Do you have more than one antivirus app installed/running?

Try connecting the laptop directly to your router via a LAN cable - then try WDO again.

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

Hmm... that seems like a good idea.

About antivirus, it's complicated. I only have one installed, but I use more than that. My mom paid for Norton, but that seemed to not work so I also use portableapps.com software from my flashdrive. My favorite is ClamWin Portable (unfortunately, I can't update it unless I take it to the library), but I also use McAfee Stinger, Spybot, and Trend Micro HouseCall. I would use AVG Free, but that failed to install because of my problem.

These are Portable apps, so they do not leave any trace unless I purposely save a file to a certain location. They're supposed to be like that, so you can use it anywhere and have your files with you no matter whose computer you borrow, and they don't get any garbage files. I use portable Antivirus software just because I have more use for it on other computers than my own. My grandma NEVER updates her computer stuff.

 

[Layback Bear]

If I had to repair this computer the first thing I would do is remove ALL security programs including any such programs attached to your browser. I would use their on line removal tools if they exist for those programs plus any other security programs that were on the computer in the past.
Disconnect from the modem or router and run this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

If the system file checker comes up okay then I would hook back up to the router or modem and install Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) and use the built in Windows 7 Firewall.

Microsoft Security Essentials - Microsoft Windows
-----------
The reason for this is because with all these security programs left overs could be confusing your system. Hopefully they haven't changed to many things that can't be repaired without major surgery.
Their are many very good free security programs but lets start with Microsoft Security Essentials. If everything works out okay we will have suggestions on other free security programs that work well with Windows 7.

 

[UsernameIssues]

I understand about the complicated security software. Just be aware that even "on-demand" scanners like Malwarebytes, Spybot and others still install drivers that run all of the time. They can cause issues even though the scanner app itself is not running.

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

All that sounds smart. And I just tried MS Security Essentials. Hopefully it saved my PC..... Nope, still can't connect anything but IE. Any other ideas?

And about Portable Apps. They don't leave anything behind. They're designed to save EVERYTHING to your flashdrive. If there's any data left behind, the Portable Apps Platform gets rid of it unless it's a word document or something. Something you actually have to hit save on. Check out their site for an explination.

 

[UsernameIssues]

You have reported back that you tried MSE.

What is the status of:

1) WDO via LAN cable If need be, use another computer to let WDO create a bootable USB or CD and then use that to check this problematic computer.

2) Clean start/boot

3) SFC scan

And about Portable apps - they don't leave much behind, just some minor things.

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

Sorry. Been out of town for a while.

WDO doesn't work well, cable or WiFi. And then I tried setting it up from my friends computer on my flash drive. It crashed somehow. It was a win7 too.

I have tried a clean start, and it didn't exactly work either. No change.

And how do I run SFC scan? The link said to run SFC/ScanNow, but I don't know what/where that is. I tried the Run button under the start menu, but that didn't work.



UPDATE: Just now noticed that it's a Command Prompt code. I tried it, but apparently I'm not the administrator. It's my laptop and I am the only one with an account, so ... why aren't I the admin guy?

 

[UsernameIssues]

.....WDO doesn't work well, cable or WiFi....

What errors/problems did you see while attempting to get WDO to download via cable? Did you try safe mode with networking to get WDO?


Please follow the steps in this post to make a file that will ping Google. Then look at the next post to ping the router. Please start both of those pings and then try and download WDO again.

If you start seeing timeouts to the router, then there is something wrong with the computer or the LAB cable or the router. If the pings to the router are fine, but you see repeated timeouts to Google, then there is something wrong with between the router and the rest of the internet.

 

[UsernameIssues]

~~~
UPDATE: Just now noticed that it's a Command Prompt code. I tried it, but apparently I'm not the administrator. It's my laptop and I am the only one with an account, so ... why aren't I the admin guy?

Take a look at method #2 again:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

Step 1 under method #2 asks that you start the cmd window using right-click > "run as admin..."
http://www.sevenforums.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=2402602

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

...Woah. Something weird just happened. Last week my parents had me switch to Auslogics Antivirus, and today my stuff started working again! I didn't do anything else either! (No more time to, actually.) Was it just added to the Virus Definition Files or something? I dunno, but it worked!

...maybe it worked a little too well... Is it some kind of time bomb virus or something?! Why would it just stop if it wasn't found by 3 other antivirus programs yet???


I am NOT joking. I'm dead serious. Anyone got a diagnosis explination?

 

[UsernameIssues]

I cannot say if it was (or is still) an infection. Not all infections can be detected while Windows is running. This is why we tried to help you run WDO. And you should still run SFC several times with a reboot between each run.

 

[SuperMikeyZ]

Well, at least WDO will work now... hopefully... Downloading it as I write this.

Just tried SFC while downloading. It didn't find anything.

UPDATE: Weird, WDO didn't find anything either. But my antivirus did delete something, so I think I'm covered. Thanks for the help, guys!