Hi! I have two problems. The first is that once I'm online I have little time before my connection is lost. (I have cable and it's a fairly new computer.) The way I can fix it is doing a run to msconfig. On the System Configuration Utility, the checkmark has "slipped" from Normal Startup to Selective Setup. I change the check to the first box and my connection is restored after it shuts down and restarts. Why this keeps happening, I don't know, but I can't do this every 5-10 minutes. Any ideas?

The second problem is that when I'm on a site, I usually click on something at the site to go to another site, whether I'm clicking on a button entitled "Add to Basket", or "Download here", or "Photo Section here", etc. I hear two clicks from the audio and I don't go anywhere. This is really frustrating. It will not go to a secondary site from the one where I am. This prevents me from doing all kinds of things, not just seeing other pages. Why on earth would it do this and how might I correct it?

I'm far from a computer repair person when it comes to the inner workings of my computer, so I'm hoping your answers won't be too complicated! I'd appreciate any help that anyone can give me - and thanks so much!! Please feel free to contact me via my email address.

Julie at JuliesWay@se.rr.com

First off: go to start Run...

Type: msconfig

Go to Startup and check "Enable All"


The other issues sounds like SP2 Security Center is running at full security.

Blocking Pop-ups and Downloads. With downloads do you get the yellow bar at the top of the screen (under the Toolbar)?

As to pop-ups go to Tools (on the top Toolbar) > Pop-up Blocker > Turn Off


Let us know if these ideas help.

Hi Jephree, thanks so much for responding. To follow up on your suggestion to check Enable All, that was already done. No, I don't get the yellow bar, and lastly, turning off the pop-up blocker didn't do anything, but I shouldn't have to lose an important capability (getting rid of pop-ups) to make anything else function. Everyone has SP2; I haven't heard of it causing a security overload or being connected to and/or preventing someone from going to a site when you click on it. Also, neither reinstalling XP nor doing a Restore to an earlier time have had any effect. What bizarre problems I'm having - I'll be crestfallen if the solutions are something trivial!

Thanks,

Julie

The double clicks you hear indicate some blocking process.

What firewall are you running? If you have a third party firewall have you disabled the SP2 firewall?


Also:

Look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/ eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for red X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id & Description especially of errors that seem to coincide with this issue.
Also check the Information lines that might coincide with this issue.

How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP

It sounds like the links you are having trouble with may be javascript links. Check your AV and anti-spyware programs' settings to be sure you have not inadvertently blocked all scripting.

Set your security to the default settings in Internet Options.

You might also try reinstalling Windows Scripting Host.

Run a thorough anti-malware scan with more than one scanner (Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc.).

I will check out the Java Scripts, and my anti-spyware programs, thanks! Also, I did uncover one thing. My computer said my IP address couldn't be read by my server. I don't know why or what to do about it. I get my email just fine. I feel as if I'm chasing rainbows and not getting any closer to why the Startup Section on the System Configuration Utility changes from Normal to Selective Startup after being online for a few minutes. Then I have to do the msconfig Run and change it to Normal, and of course then the computer has to immediately shut down and restart. When my computer comes up again it's fine (except I still can't go to secondary sites) for a few minutes before it happens all over again. I hate spending a mint on a computer and not being able to use it. I'm still open for more suggestions! Thanks to Abraxas and Jephree!