I'm running WinXP on my laptop with SP 2. I have both IE 6 and some version of firefox. I always connect through wireless. My browser doesn't have a proxy address entered. I have the windows firewall disabled and am not running any other firewall or antivirus utilities. I ran a virusscan and don't have any virii. My problem is this: when I try to go to a website (in either firefox or IE), it loads the page about 20% of the time, and 80% of the time, it gives me the "Cannot find server" error. It's really odd--I know that I have an internet connection because I can concurrently chat or load other pages. After hitting "refresh" several times (5-10 times), it finally loads. Sometimes it doesn't load. I know it's not a problem with the web servers because it happens on reputable websites like microsoft.com and yahoo.com. What can I do to fix this? Thanks in advance.

Is this a new problem? Were things working OK previously? Any new hardware and or software?

You should have a Firewall AND an Anti-Virus running.

As a first check just to clear things up I would suggest running a HijackThis log by our Pros in that section:

Please follow the instructions HERE & then post your log in a new thread in the Spyware, Adware, Viruses and HijackThis Logs section.
(Not in this section please).

This has actually been happening for a few months now. I think it's been happening ever since I bought this computer (running a fresh install of windows). So no, no new hardware/software. It does this when I connect from school AND when I connect from home.

I posted my HajackThis log to the spyware/adware/viruses section and there are no found viruses on my computer.

You have not yet posted the scan results that VopThis asked for.

I posted the logs and there were no major viruses found.

One thing I find curious in you log is that you have 4 versions of IE running simultaneously.

Open the Task Manager to the Processes tab and close all IE's then restart IE and try your problem sites.

You can also try:

start/run cmd then type: ipconfig /flushdns

I had multiple browsers open while doing the scan. This problem has existed pretty much every day for the past 3 months. Even after I reboot. After flushing the DNS, it seems that I get success about 40% of the time rather than the 20% of the time after using it for a while.

I would suggest calling your ISP and having a tech there run with you thru your problem sites.

This should be free and most ISP's are helpful. He/she will be able to monitor your computer's activity thru their network.

They might find something or have some idea. It is at least worth the try.