1) My computer is connected to internet. I can "ping" a web site like www.google.com or something like this. I also telnet to Unix/Linux hosts on the internet. 2) My problem is: I cannot surf using internet explorer. I get the message "IE cannot display the web page." I uninstalled IE 6.x and installed IE 7.x. The problem remains the same. I installed Firefox and have the same problem. I ram diagnostics tool from IE 7.x, I got the following message: "Windows did not detect any problems with your internet connection over HTTP and HTTPS but was not able to connect over FTP. The most likely cause is that a firewall connection is blocking the necessary FTP ports. I was surfing internet until yesterday and this problem happened this morning. I have been reading for answer on the web, nobody provided a correct solution. 3) I downloaded Adaware and AVG today from another computer in my home and put the software on a USB stick and loaded on to my computer whose browsers are not working. I was able to install both AVG and Adaware, but both the tools had problems with updates. 4) I did not understand what the problem with browsesr. I have two other computers at home, they are all working fine. Can someone suggest me what to do? My computer is Dell Inspirion and its warranty expired. It is a 3 year old laptop, but runs good. My problem is with the browsers only. I can even connect to my office via VPN. I can connect to my Linux host where my webpage is hosted with my hosting provider. So, it is not the problem with DNS. I also turned off Windows Firewall. Still, no luck. Can someone help me please? It has to be some settings in the browser got messed up in both IE and FireFox.

profsrini, SWAG, "The most likely cause is that a firewall connection is blocking the necessary FTP ports.". Look at your security settings in IE. Anything higher than 'med' makes your firewall block. HTH. Ed in Texas.