Hi Gang, New here so be gentle and patient. PROBLEM: Desktop (Dell Dimension 8400) got a virus. couldnt fix so I did a restore to an earlier date. Worked fine but now wont connect to internet through my router. It is hard wired to the router. Called cable support, they arrived discoverd and replaced a bad modem, that allowed another wired computer and two wireless to begin connecting to internet. Desktop still shows "limited or no connectivity. Cable support guys told me I had a bad NIC card so bought and installed one of those, no change.

I have played with the IP address and it removes the "limited or no connectivity message, but wired desktop still wont connect to the internet. PLEASE HELP!

Have you tried to plug the the ethernet cable into a different socket on the router? Check whether the cable you are using has a problem by using this with the other wired computer.

Yeah Owen and thanks for your thoughts. I have tried different ports on the router, gone straight to the modem and bypassed the router, changed cables etc etc etc.
I am almost at the point of restoring the entire pc but I just hate to lose data. Any other suggestions would helpful and appreciated. I am relatively sure it is a program change with the operating system somewhere.

Do you have the latest drivers for your network device installed on your PC? If not, then this could be the issue, restoring your computer will have replaced drivers with an older version that may be causing the problem.

I am relatively confident I have (had) all the appropriate drivers, as all was working well before. I got a virus that started all of this mess, and had to restore to a good known previous date. As I may have stated before, that allowed all my programs to function, but I cannot figure out the connectivity issue. I am connected with "limited or no connectivity" message at the icon but when I try to connect to any page the message appears "can't find the server" and outlook email wont connect either.

Ah a system restore point, I didn't fully understand before, I thought you meant you had wiped the system and reinstalled Windows.

Download WinSockXP Fix from here. Run the program and click ReG-Backup. Choose a folder to backup the registry and the program will tell you how to restore a backup should anything go wrong. After the backup has complete, click the Fix button and follow any prompts that the program gives you (whether this be reboot, etc). Then post back here to see if this has solved your problem.