i attempted to sign on MSN today, but it said that i needed to upgrade my windows live in order to sign in. but when i tried to download windows live again, the microsoft related site wouldn't work. i tried to go to microsoft sites, but they all wouldn't work (couldn't connect). i'm not very advanced with computers, so i'm not sure if i'll be able to keep up with any long complex answers. (not sure about my CPU/Ram) any ideas on what's wrong and why i can't connect to any microsoft sites? EDIT: i don't know what happened with the product... but i am using Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 SP 3

eehyun, SWAG, a nasty? M$ is a pretty common target and I suspect you have a nasty that blocks any M$ site. Scan? May not solve the problem, but won't cause harm if not either. HTH. Ed in Texas.

thanks for the tip ed, i ran the scan a few times and nothing.. anyone else have any helpful things to say?

eehyun, what'd you scan WITH? A lot of nasties are worm/trojans and not all AVs can handle them. Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean, other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, Superantispyware can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.superantispyware.com/ among other places. They have a Vista compatible version if needed. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running and disable 'restore' (restart after cleaning) so it doesn't get put back. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. The restore thing is critical. May not be your deal at all, but won't hurt anything to try. Maybe you just need more? HTH. Ed in Texas.

I have the same problem in my network. i have a windows 2003 server based network, using IPCOP firewall as gateway. before i believe that the ipcop box was giving me the problem but i formated and installed the firewall again and have still the problem. funny thing is tht if i connect my laptop to the router infront of the firewall with theprimary nic ip scheme i can browse microsoft web sites. any idea how can i solve this problem??

darkrenewed, since you're on a network, did you clean the router or just your machine? Most routers have their own firewall and I suspect the nasty has infected the router. Cleaning an individual machine on an infected network is futile. There are cleaners specially designed for routers. Google? HTH. Ed in Texas.