techie questions for the IT bods
 

Since we have so many IT experts on the board I thought I would ask here first.

My home PC/broadband has suddenly taken a dislike to lots of websites and won't load them up. These are general websites like ebay, gnc, etc, and the weblink to my office email - all of which worked fine up until 2 days ago.

I've tried lowering all the security settings, reinstalling IE6, and even tried installing Firefox but nothing has worked so far.

I don't think my ISP (BTYahoo) has blocked these as they are general websites. Could it be something to do with my router? Is it possible for a router to get a virus?

thanks in advance, Chi

is it a Netgear Wireless router ? (if the answer is yes then i am the King of this question )

1. Check your Anti Virus is upto date, then run a full scan.
Don't have an AV installed? Use this highly recommended free one:
http://free.grisoft.com/
(Click the “Get AVG Free for Windows” link at the bottom, then click the download link.)

2. Check your Anti-Spyware is upto date, then run a full scan.
Don't have Anti-Spyware installed? Use one (or all!) of these free programs:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

3. Make sure your Windows is fully patched and upto date.
Visit the MS update site to check: http://www.windowsupdate.com/

4. Finally, you can now check if it's working. If not, switch your modem/router off (ie, turn off the power) and leave it for 5 minutes. Go make a cuppa or something. Then switch it back on.

5. If it's still not running, assuming that you haven't changed any settings in your modem/router, go through the Networking Wizard under Start > Control Panel > Networking

6. It's screwed. Throw it away and start again ;)

Have you unplugged and repowered your router?

If its Windows XP then do a system restore to a few weeks back and see what happens. You can always undo it if it doesnt help.

Weeksy - not Netgear, it is a Cisco router. Don't know the model but is says "800 range". It's black and it's ugly.

Antony - got McAfee whistles and bells a few years back after a horrible virus outbreak. Gets regularly updated automatically as well.

JPM - have switched it off and on again a few times. Will actually unplugging it make a difference?

I've never set any restore points in the past. Does the system do this automatically for you? If so, how do I go back to a previous point?

[Edited on 16-2-2006 by chicken]

And if you can't do steps 1 to 3 because you can't reach those websites go directly to step 6

is it a Netgear Wireless router ?
 

I just bought a netgear wireless router this one for my laptop, I was advised here was the poodles I haven’t tried to connect it yet so I hope its easy and hope I can shout on you boys if I get stuck?

I've just had a week of grief with my machine. Not loading pages, dropping the connection every 10 minutes etc. etc.
I've run windows update(there are several security updates), updated the AV, run adware, run housecall several times to no avail.
In the end, I removed the broadband software and the modem and reinstalled.
Hasn't missed a beat since.................

Hrmmm .... AOL?

Why do broadband providers insist on spreading viruses.