I'm currently on my parents laptop, as I cannot connect to the internet (or at least firefox or IE) and I say that because I can get on MSN and Xbox Live!!

But in the bottom left, my internet icon has a red X through it, and when i press diagnose and repair, it says there isn't a problem, plus, i can get on live, msn and my parents internet.

When i hover over the icon I get the messege "connection status unknown: Class not registered"

When I open the internet on either firefox or IE, it says "connecting" but never does, and freezes after any click, and then requires task manager to end the programme.

I have tried opening up in safe mode, last working state (something like that) and am unable to do a system restore (something about a shadow copy... - I think, cant remember now) and have downloaded some registry cleaners, but don't want to download to many of those as am aware some are viruses themselves.

Sooo really really complicated, hope it makes some sort of sense, and hope somebody can help me - anybody, Spinner, Blutch, Cuchulain, Buddytobud, anybodyyy, am desperate.

First thing - have you tried running a full system scan with your antivirus?

Unfortunately i'm inclined to suspect a virus or malware due to the problem you have with system restore, as a simple browser/networking error wouldn't affect that.

The next thing to try is forcing a browser to open to a specific page. Go to Start>run and type http://update.microsoft.com

That can sometimes bypass any remote connections a piece of malware tries to launch upon opening the browser the normal way. If it works, run an update! The malware tool might just sort it for you.

Good luck!

I ran a full virus scan from my AVG but it found nothing...

In the end, I saved all my files that i needed and wiped everything. so am back to square 1 now, and its working fine.



Am sure your way would have been easier though

Edited at 15:07 Sat 21/02/09 (GMT)