I was at a cafe with wifi, doing some work. I couldn't open google, hotmail, cnn, and suspected a virus. Ran spybot and removed some stuff. Later I returned home and contiunued working, and soon found that my IE was having a lot of weird things going on: I can't close the window (when I click on the X it just beeps, have to CTRL-ALT-DEL), can't Ctrl-F, Ctrl-V, delete won't work - lots of issues. The computer is a laptop, wife has laptop as well. We run a home wireless network connected via cable modem. We have never had a firewall (I bought one today though!). Other nuances: wife's computer cannot access the sites as well, although she does not have IE problems. I downloaded Mozilla on my computer. No issues with the browser, but I still cannot connect to certain sites. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Start --> Run --> msconfig -->startup tab --> deselect all. Go to C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and open it with notepad. Delete all text. Also, After you restart with the msconfig thing, start pressing f8 and go into safe mode with networking. Download the latest stinger stand-alone from http://vil.nai.com/vil/averttools.asp#stinger and scan your system. . .all of which should be done in safe mode. Also, make sure your spybot is updated. . .I would also suggest downloading ad aware from www.download.com and update it and run it.

Tried all of the above (thanks for the reply). AdAware found a bunch of stuff, stinger found nothing. Problems remain. ANy other ideas?

to share internet access you already have a router and MOST router have firewall built in..which as i heard are even better than software firewall. Use hijackthis, spybot, adaware. post your log file of hijackthis. hijackthis shows what are running at start up in your comp...and it will give u a log file...copy and paste it here. commonly its some .dll files that is doing this...i think its a broswer hijacker...so tried those and see.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7 Scan saved at 11:22:35 PM, on 4/26/2004 Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600) MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106) Running processes: C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\Ati2evxx.exe c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsrte.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe C:\Program Files\Sony\Photo Server 20\appsrv\PicAppSrv.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\VAIO Media Platform\SV_Httpd.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\VAIO Media Platform\UPnPFramework.exe C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.exe c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\ezSP_Px.exe C:\Program Files\mozilla.org\Mozilla\mozilla.exe C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\WINWORD.exe C:\Program Files\partypoker\PartyPoker.exe C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\HijackThis.exe R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.foxnews.com/ R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.sony.com/vaiopeople O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\adobe\acrobat 5.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.ocx O2 - BHO: (no name) - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll O2 - BHO: (no name) - {E9147A0A-A866-4214-B47C-DA821891240F} - c:\windows\system32\ngsw31.dll O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll O3 - Toolbar: McAfee VirusScan - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshl.dll O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfig] C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe /auto O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ezShieldProtector for Px] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ezSP_Px.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCUpdateExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcupdate.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VSOCheckTask] "c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcmnhdlr.exe" /checktask O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VirusScan Online] "c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshld.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCAgentExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CleanUp] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\Shared\mcappins.exe /v=3 /cleanup O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmsearch.html O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward &Links - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmbacklinks.html O8 - Extra context menu item: Cac&hed Snapshot of Page - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmcache.html O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000 O8 - Extra context menu item: Si&milar Pages - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmsimilar.html O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate into English - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmtrans.html O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console (HKLM) O9 - Extra button: AIM (HKLM) O9 - Extra button: PartyPoker.com (HKLM) O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: PartyPoker.com (HKLM) O9 - Extra button: Messenger (HKLM) O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Messenger (HKLM) O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.sony.com/vaiopeople O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Hearts - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/ht1_x.cab O16 - DPF: Yahoo! NFL GameChannel StatTracker - http://aud1.sports.sc5.yahoo.com/java/y/nflgcst1010_x.cab O16 - DPF: {02BCC737-B171-4746-94C9-0D8A0B2C0089} (Microsoft Office Template and Media Control) - http://office.microsoft.com/templates/ieawsdc.cab O16 - DPF: {02BF25D5-8C17-4B23-BC80-D3488ABDDC6B} (QuickTime Object) - http://www.apple.com/qtactivex/qtplugin.cab O16 - DPF: {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} (Shockwave ActiveX Control) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/director/swdir.cab O16 - DPF: {31B7EB4E-8B4B-11D1-A789-00A0CC6651A8} (Cult3D ActiveX Player) - http://www.cult3d.com/download/cult.cab O16 - DPF: {4ED9DDF0-7479-4BBE-9335-5A1EDB1D8A21} (McAfee.com Operating System Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/shared/mcinsctl/en-us/4,0,0,81/mcinsctl.cab O16 - DPF: {5445BE81-B796-11D2-B931-002018654E2E} (MeadCo Security Manager) - http://egainlive.idatanet.com/wcsapp/weblib/Javascript/messaging/ie/SecMgr.cab O16 - DPF: {BAC01377-73DD-4796-854D-2A8997E3D68A} (Yahoo! Photos Easy Upload Tool Class) - http://us.dl1.yimg.com/download.yahoo.com/dl/installs/ydropper/ydropper1_1us.cab O16 - DPF: {C4925E65-7A1E-11D2-8BB4-00A0C9CC72C3} (Virtools WebPlayer Class) - http://a532.g.akamai.net/7/532/6712/6c5b0a1ae398e3/player.virtools.com/downloads/player/Install2.5/Installer.exe O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab O16 - DPF: {E855A2D4-987E-4F3B-A51C-64D10A7E2479} (EPSImageControl Class) - http://tools.ebayimg.com/eps/activex/EPSControl_v1-32.cab O16 - DPF: {E87F6C8E-16C0-11D3-BEF7-009027438003} (Persits Software XUpload) - http://www.dotphoto.com/XUpload.ocx O16 - DPF: {EF791A6B-FC12-4C68-99EF-FB9E207A39E6} (McFreeScan Class) - http://download.mcafee.com/molbin/iss-loc/vso/en-us/tools/mcfscan/1,5,0,4352/mcfscan.cab O16 - DPF: {F54C1137-5E34-4B95-95A5-BA56D4D8D743} (Secure Delivery) - http://www.gamespot.com/KDX22/download/kdx.cab

Also: regarding the websites I cannot visit (google, cnn, ebay), no computer in the house (laptops or desktop) can. Also, when I start IE I initially have control, but lose it after 5-10 seconds