So my brother recently shipped out to Iraq, and I have the use of his laptop until he returns. I've been having problems with some web pages, but not all.

Example. I go to MSN.com and there is the search the web dialog box on the top. I type a search and hit enter, and it does what it's supposed to and returns results. Now I go to google and do the same thing, and nothing happens. The little MS icon doesn't move as it would if it was downloading. It also does not work with Mozilla Firebird to eliminate it being the browser as well. There are other sites where text entry boxes do work (such as here), and don't work (such as the Cisco Net Acadmey). I have reset all internet settings to default, and still nothing. I have also tried it on my home wired network, and my schools wireless network. With the Cisco site, I try to log on and that is through a pop-up entry window.

So the symptom of the problem is that certain text entry links are unresponsive. I'm thinking it is some kind of security setting but I have no idea where to look as it is XP Home.

Due to this not being my laptop, I cannot reload it unfortunately. Nor is it easy to talk to my brother about it now.

This is a Dell Inspiron 600m running Windows XP Home(with all updates installed).

Anyone have any ideas?

Check for any firewall type software. Either stuff built into XP (and exposed via the network connections properties), or third party stuff like Zone Alarm.

Also, check msconfig - startup to see if something like a firewall program is disabled. I have seen cases where ZoneAlarm is disabled via msconfig, and all net access goes haywire.

Also check for spyware. Alot of times spyware can malfunction and mess up browsing. Spybot and Ad-Aware are your friends.

SpyBot will help you find spyware.

I thought of the firewall issue... The one built into XP is not enabled, and there are no third party ones running or installed. I did remove 72 items of spyware but it had no effect. It does have McAffee security center but only the anti-virus installed. I have booted with it disabled with no resolution to the problem.

Looking at Cisco's site, the login popup is using Javascript. So I just went to java.com... only half the buttons work... and of course the get java button is one that does not. I downloaded the installer on my desktop, and copied it over to update the java on the machine. Still no luck after a reboot.

I did remove 72 items of spyware

"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

Seriously, if you've had to remove that many items of spyware, your installation's probably totally hosed.

"Game over, man."

Since its not browser specific, you might check this

http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/answers4.htm#search_engine

Unfortunately that is specific to search engines. While that is one symptom, there are many other instances of the same (lack of) behavior. Some good stuff in there though. I'm thinking since I must leave this drive intact, that the easiest option is to get a 30GB drive off ebay (saw a couple at $60 or so today) and go with that. Having only partial web sucks. I mean the only good thing on the internet that works is this BBS! If anyone has any other ideas I'd still love to try them out. I just got out of my MCSE class and my instructor was stumped as well. Hence Micro$oft's solution to the problem - Reload. The spyware on here wasn't bad, some cookies, registry keys, then of course the search bar that my brother had installed was complete spyware. But again, it is not just search pages... that is just one good example. [sigh]

If you visit http://www.privacy.net then click on "Analyze Your Connection" this should list all the different stuff that works like java-script, java, activex, etc...

Then this site can help you with java http://www.virtualmachine.tk/

Now, I know that a lot of different programs can make java-script not work. Programs that cause problems:

Norton Anti-Virus (But only if you let the Firewall part of this install)
Any Pop-up killer
Lots of Tool Bar add-on's

Wow... And all this time when I didn't want to enter my email address I have been entering [email protected] when I could have entered [email protected].

Well according to their scan JavaScript is working, VBScript is working, and the little box that says "Java is Enabled" is working. However the box next to that is not(It is not on my desktop as well).

I don't think there is much I can do now. I'm sure it has something to do with one of the many adult oriented services, or file-sharing programs installed by my brother. That right there should be motivation for everyone to stay away from the stuff! It will destroy your computer!

You aren't running any sort of proxy? I run the proxomitron, and it has the same symptoms at times. As long as you've installed a fresh browser, I doubt that would be your problem. Am I right in reading this that the sites themselves respond, but only certain pages are screwed up?

Can you try going to a page that doesn't work right and saving the html source and then going to the same page from a working machine and seeing if the source matches?

Matthew

I'm not running any proxy, and I have cleared my history, cookies, and tempory internet files many times. The problem is some sites(pages/portions of pages) will not respond. A google search does nothing. Same with yahoo. I cannot even open one of the links on the top of yahoo(ie email). On java.com some of the links will not respond. Parts of Cisco's site. Now some parts of these sites do work. The sources do match between a good machine and the POS.

That's plain weird. Have you searched the Microsoft support site?

Do you have enough bandwidth to download and install a Mozilla browser to see if the problem is the same on that one?

Yeah it sounds weird as I'm describing it. I promise it is much weirder when you are actually trying to using it. I stumped 2 of my college instructors tonight.

I've tried using Mozilla Firebird (one of the first things I tried actually) with the same results. Searching MS's support site is worse than a needle in a haystack. How do I describe this in a search function? I tried some key words such as "links not responding" and also googled support.microsoft.com. I couldn't find anything close to my problem.

This is frustrating, but I'm now to the point where I am ready to give up and shoot the thing. If it was an option, the machine would have a fresh OS installed by now. Thanks everyone for your ideas. There comes a time to just move on. Rather than have this destroy my sanity, I will just put it away. I must say, fixing problems with 3rd party apps on my Empeg is easier than windows problems (I usually have botched the install if I'm having problems).

You could always try Opera for a third opinion. Seeing as it's not a browser problem, or a network problem, the only thing that I can imagine causing it is some sort of proxy inbetween your browser and the web.

Hmmm... Do you have problems with links that aren't javascript? Also, make sure you realize that javascript has nothing to do with Java. Javascript is the thing that's most likely to get mangled by a popup blocker, as it'll thin the javascript is a popup. Perhaps go through the task manager and try killing tasks until you can't kill any more. (this requires some finesse, as you've got to avoid the essential ones) and then see if the problem is the same/better/worse.

Someone at my office just dug up a how-to-reinstall-windows-xp-networking MS article, which I can try and find for you if you think it would help. We've been growing increasingly annoyed at XP's inability to reinstall all it's networking components, so it was a welcome find. I havn't actually tried it out yet though. It couldn't really make things much worse, however.

Matthew

Based on what everybody's said, one theory might be that one of those spyware things replaced some key DLLs in your system folder. How else do you break Mozilla and IE? One desperation move might be wholesale copying over all the DLLs from a clean Windows installation and see if that fixes anything.