Browser related problem?

Duff

Hey all

I think I've some sort of malware targeting just my browsers. It started a day or two ago, I'd open the browser (chrome) and it would work fine for 10-15 mins and then id get a page error or could not connect to site message. The same thing happened when I tried IE and Safari too. It's like I'm not connected to the internet but I am because my MSN messenger and stuff is still working.

I ran a system restore back to some time last week and it seemed to have cured the problem but then last night it happened again. The only anti-virus software I have is SpyBot search and destroy which I've ran a few scans with and it turned up nothing?

Anyone any ideas?

Cheers.

teekayd25

Had an almost identical problem just last night myself . . . I ran the anti-virus program (one called Ad Aware) I have on my own system and if I recall correctly it recommended a big clear-out of my Cookies. After doing that I then deleted / uninstalled a couple of dodgy software programs that I had recently downloaded. Everything back to normal today. Did you download anything recently that might be trojan-esque?

Duff

I'll give that a go later on so! Hopefully it works! Em, the only thing I downloaded recently was WinZip. I'll uninstall that as well just to be sure.

Cheers!

teekayd25

Your case still seems a bit strange if you hadn't downloaded anything odd . . . I'm on 3 mobile broadband myself, not your service provider by any chance?

johnnybmac

Duff wrote: »

Hey all

I think I've some sort of malware targeting just my browsers. It started a day or two ago, I'd open the browser (chrome) and it would work fine for 10-15 mins and then id get a page error or could not connect to site message. The same thing happened when I tried IE and Safari too. It's like I'm not connected to the internet but I am because my MSN messenger and stuff is still working.

I ran a system restore back to some time last week and it seemed to have cured the problem but then last night it happened again. The only anti-virus software I have is SpyBot search and destroy which I've ran a few scans with and it turned up nothing?

Anyone any ideas?

Cheers.

Spybot is really only an antimalware/spyware removal program, you really should have a decent anti-virus on your system, Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast would be grand, and they're free ...

You should also follow all of the suggestions outlined in the sticky :
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055274237

Will I Amnt

Having the same problem meself,only happens now and again,it's usually my homepage won't load and says I'm not connected to Internet but everything else seems to work ok

themadhair

Duff wrote: »

I'd open the browser (chrome) and it would work fine for 10-15 mins and then id get a page error or could not connect to site message. The same thing happened when I tried IE and Safari too. It's like I'm not connected to the internet but I am because my MSN messenger and stuff is still working.

Need you to try a few things so your problem can be narrowed down.

1) Can your browser be restarted? In other words when you close an affected browser does its process keep running?

2) Is only http affected? Do websites like https://www.google.com/ (the https version) still work? Does IRC and FTP still work?

Duff

themadhair wrote: »

Need you to try a few things so your problem can be narrowed down.

1) Can your browser be restarted? In other words when you close an affected browser does its process keep running?

2) Is only http affected? Do websites like https://www.google.com/ (the https version) still work? Does IRC and FTP still work?

To answer no. 1, Yes the process keeps running when I close the browser. (No matter what browser I use)

2, No, both http and https sites are not working. IRC and FTP were working as normal up until today. Now they've stopped working too.

Cheers.

themadhair

Duff wrote: »

To answer no. 1, Yes the process keeps running when I close the browser. (No matter what browser I use)

I think this narrows the problem down to your firewall. Let me explain why.

Web browsers, like most normal pieces of software, run in something called ‘user space’. This essentially means they have no permissions to access hardware, make settings changes, etc. Programs running in user space can be easily terminated. Some programs, such as your firewall or hardware drivers, run in something called ‘kernel space’. This grants those programs extra permissions, access to hardware, etc. The reason why your browser process keeps running is because a portion of it is going through the firewall. Because this portion is running in kernel space, rather than normal user space, it prevents the program from terminating.

Try using a different firewall to see if the problem goes away. I had this problem with a Vista system running Zonealarm, and changing to PC Tools firewall solved the problem. I’ve only heard of this problem occurring with Zonealarm though.

Duff

Still got this problem guys, I've ran two anti-virus programs now and both say my computer is clean?

themadhair

It is not a virus or malware problem, its a firewall problem.

I've had the exact same problem and so have others:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/71940/

bhickey

Duff wrote: »

Still got this problem guys, I've ran two anti-virus programs now and both say my computer is clean?

Unless you're using Windows 2000 (or earlier), then there's no reason to be using a 3rd-party firewall unless you're looking to some something funky. So if the problem is indeed related to firewall issues then just remove any 3rd-party firewall that you might have. Also unistall any antivirus/antimalware program(s) for the moment to see if that helps. Basically the less stuff you have running, the easier it is sometimes to find the root cause of these problems. Does browsing work okay in 'Safe Mode with Networking'?

Duff

themadhair wrote: »

It is not a virus or malware problem, its a firewall problem.

I've had the exact same problem and so have others:
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/71940/

Pardon my ignorance but I'm not very computer tech minded. (the basics really) What do I need to do in the windows firewall settings?

Thanks.

themadhair

Duff wrote: »

What do I need to do in the windows firewall settings?

You don't.

You try one of two things:
1) Install another firewall or;
2) Turn off your firewall.

Do one of these and see if the problem still persists.

Duff

I can't download a different firewall because I cant connect to the internet. I turned off the Windows firewall and the problem is still there. Typical! never and easy solution with me.

themadhair

I thought I had this cracked.

When this problem occurs can you still access websites through their IPs?

For example, will 89.207.56.140 open up when this problem happens?

That’s the IP for RTE in case you were worried. Let me know if this works or not.

Duff

Nope, tried using IP addresses already. Baffled.

themadhair

Does this problem occur when you boot into safe mode with networking? I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here to be honest.

Duff

themadhair wrote: »

Does this problem occur when you boot into safe mode with networking? I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here to be honest.

Haven't tried that yet. I'll give it a go when I get home.

Cheers for all the ideas so far by the way.

themadhair

http://forums.techguy.org/networking/932912-solved-internet-stops-working-after.html