Hope someone can help. I cannot access some of my favourite websites. I have windows XP, 2 PC's networked. Nothing has changed with my security or firewalls etc. I have checked all my settings and they are just as they were. I have been at it for 2 hours and I am stumped! I can get the homepage of them but then it just goes on a go-slow.

What does "I can get the homepage of them but then it just goes on a go-slow, what does that mean(when you click a link on that page it takes forever to open)

Do you get any 404 or 405 error messages.

If you haven't changed anything, you might have picked up some spyware from a website you were on, I would post a hijack this log in the spyware forum and see if that's your problem.

Have you tried pinging the website, Go To Start > Run box type: cmd

Example: ping www.google.com

The ping program sends four messages to the Web server and
measures (and displays) the time for each message to make.
the trip there and back. If these times are long, say more that
two seconds, or if you see the message "timed out", then you
are experiencing congestion on either the Internet or the Web
server you are trying to reach. Call back another time.

Thanks for your help. got it working now.

Hi numpty;

That's great news would you mind posting how you fixed the problem, so that other people who run across this kind of problem will know what to do.

Thanks

Yes please! Having a similar problem myself!

When my homepage opened slowly or not at all the problem was traced to connection setting in Internet Explorer.

Open up Internet Options, if you have trouble opening Internet Explorer or you have to wait forever for it to open type in run box: inetcpl.cpl

When Internet properties opens click tab connections > LAN Settings and Uncheck the boxes > Automatically detect settings > Use auto configuration script.

When I did this my home page opened in seconds.

I dont know if this was the solution but I unplugged my modem and wireless router and left it for a few minutes. When I reset them, the problem had solved itself.

Good idea, seems that was the problem and thanks for letting everyone know.

It seems when this kind of problem pops up and we start trouble shooting the first thing we think of it must be related to browser setting or spyware.

When the obvious is pointed out and traced to network problems it is usually something to do with the cabling, network card, modem or the router, if we can determine the source by eliminating other network devices as the problem, chances are good we could figure out the problem.

If we eliminate in this case the cabling, modem, and router theirs a good chance something is wrong with our network card.

The router and modem are the center of your network and 9 times out of 10, many network problems can be traced back to one of these devices which could be a defective device, bad settings, old firmware, and firewall issues can all put your network on the blink.