I cant download anything either save to disc or open. A message pops up saying

"Internet Explorer was not able to open this internet site. The requested site is either unavailible or cannot be found. Please try again later"

This problem started happening this morning and i am certain these are secure download spots- eg download.com or my school website.

If you have you firewal configuraed for MAXIMUM security, those are the results you can expect with the majority of URL's. Try resetting to MEDIUM, and see if the conditions are more to your liking.

Another possibility is that your modem needs to be reset to factory default settings.

i have no firewall and have changed no configurations whatsoever- already on medium. Also i am on broadband.

Time to run Spybot and Hijack This...
sounds like browser hijacker at work!

i ran a scan... no change

"Broadband" covers a multitude of hardware environments. Try to transcend your humility and tell us what that means.

Beauty of the high sierra,
And she's looking out for you.

When you say you run no firewall, are you on SP2? Do you know that SP2 defaults the Windows firewall to active.

No idea what SP2, but i didnt make any changes, i just booted up and this happened. I run on a cable connection over a router, but like i said i never changed anything, before this happened i could download anything.

If you don't know what SP2 is, then you need to go back to square 1 and learn about Windows Updates...and my guess is you are innundated with virus, because many of those updates prvented that....sounds like time to"wipe and load" and next time learn about Windows Updates which at the monet you cannot do anyway because you don't have Service Pack 2(or know what it is?)

unfortunately i cant reinstall windows because the cd key isnt mine. I dont have service pack 2 because it always caused me problems before, so i got rid of it.

Well you have to make a decision...this is a "help" forum, not a place for divine miracles.
You have to commit to spending something somewhere along the line so I see there are 3 possibilities.
1)Spend the $80 and get a real copy of Windows, which any pc owner has an obligation to have, so you can "wipe and load" and make this run right.
I have SP2 on 6 machines without a single problem, and I started with the beta version last year in May and had no problems with any of those either. Nor do any of the 5 office machines I have or any of my clients. You see when SP2 is a problem, it is because you are inundated with spyware and virus, or have incompatible hardware.Of course I always run the most current versions of the best paid antivirus program, Spybot, and Spywareblaster, and I never miss a Windows Update. Possibly that is the reason?
2)Another option would be go buy a new computer with a legitimate version of Windows XP.
3)Or wait until it becomes so overcome with problems, it won't run anymore and lose everything on it.

Heheh alright, thanks alot :D

Also thanks for the help in the hardware section Rich Mentzel