A friend of mine recently purchased a Dell Inspirion 537S. I personally set it up and installed all the additional software, and everything on it was running just dandy. However, a couple days after I set the system up, his Internet started acting screwy. He can only access a very small handful of websites (Google.com, PhiladelphiaEagles.com, state.nj.us, Marvel.com). But about 95% of other websites simply wont load including major sites like CNN.com, Microsoft.com, Dell.com and Firefox. I get no error messages. The page keeps trying to load, and you can see the little IE icon doing it's thing, but the page just stays white. It's not an ISP issue. 3 Comcast technicians have looked into it and left scratching their heads. I've tried 2 different laptops, and both can access the internet using the wireless router just fine. I've disabled the Windows Firewall and the Mcafee Firewall that came with the machine. I've set the IE security settings to the lowest possible settings, I've even used Dell's System Restore to bring the system back to it's factory settings (it formats the partition and everything). Still, the internet is a no go. To add to the mystery, if I ping a site like www.disney.com I get a response, but the site wont load. I've tried everything short of installing a new browser (a last resort which I don't think will really work). I spent 70 dollars talking to Dell tech support, which at best is completely oblivious. I spent an hour waiting for the guy to flip through a manual to tell me to try it in safe mode. Dell refuses to budge, even though me and the 3 Comcast technicians (including the regional tech guy) agree that it's most likely an issue with Dell's propriety software... I'm no dummy with computers. I'm a computer science major, I work in an IT position, and I have a couple of certs under my belt, but I just can't figure this one out. Help!

Start IE8 and click Tools and check Compatibility View. This might help a bit. Also check Internet Options, Content Advisor settings. Also check your cookie settings. Are you behind an ADSL modem/router ? You also have some settings that might interfere with your comfortable browsing. By the way, a firewall has nothing to do with viewing web pages. If you can view one web site, you can view the others as well. Your Firewall might block a web browser or an application to pass the boundaries of your PC. But once an application such as IE8 goes thru the firewall out to internet, you should view any web pages depending on the content advisor settings of your web browser. Regards SuatCINI

Thanks for your reply, SuatCINI. I'll definitely take a look at the things you mentioned. Generally, I would agree with your stance on firewalls, but my fear is that one of the software firewalls have a setting to block "malicious" websites and the like. Obviously, what ever is blocking the site isn't doing it's job right as I should get an error message telling me WHY I can't visit the sites, but who knows. Thanks again! - Tim

Do you think Microsoft.com, Dell.com, etc. are malicious web sites ? Regards SuatCINI

SuatCINI, I certainly don't. But if all the software was working correctly, I wouldn't be having issues in the fist place. Perhaps there's code to parse scripts that's getting caught up or something of the like. With a whole bunch of anti-malware applications vying to access the same system resources, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that one of these so called "security suites" is conflicting with another and causing my issue. I'll definitely keep your suggestion in mind, though. Thanks again, - Tim

You are welcome. I do hope you sort your problem out soon. Regards SuatCINI

Tim, It`s quit funny that no one could help with this problem as am having the same with my Vista ...i hope and wish somebody could come up with a solution . i spent £124 speaking with DELL.....but i had to hangup as no traces of solution... Tim if u can reinstall ur OS. moses.