No internet - adware problem?

[popularityzero]

hello everyone

i currently am trying to access the internet on my dell inspiron b130 (nothing but trouble) but i can't seem to do anything at all with my connection.

here's what happened:

two days ago, everything was fine. i started browsing my usual sites (never had a problem with any of them) and then encountered some adware that had silently installed. i tried getting rid of it with ad-aware and spybot s&d but to no avail. the program had blocked me out of regedit and task manager, and said the administrator had disabled those abilities. then a new program was installed, personal guard 2009, which started generating false scans and such, and effectively stopped me from accessing the internet. i somehow got the first program off, but personal guard was being stubborn. i got my other computer and searched for the registry entries that personal guard made and deleted them, but it somehow kept coming back. i then tried two programs new to me, malwarebytes' anti-malware and hijackthis. with hijackthis i found one entry for personal guard and deleted it, and malwarebytes found quite a few and i purged them all.

so now i have a clean computer, with no internet access still. so far, i've tried:

1. restarting (both computer and modem, though my other computer never lost internet)
2. repairing the connection
3. uninstalling network card and reinstalling

any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[ArmaTheGreek]

Try going to start > run > type 'cmd' > type 'ipconfig' and post the result here.

on the same window type this command

ping www.google.com
ping 74.125.53.99

and post the result here as well.

this is the easiest way to determine if you're still connected to the internet.

[popularityzero]

from ipconfig all it said was "windows ip configuration". nothing more.

from pinging google i got "ping request could not find host www.google.com. please check the name and try again."

from pinging 74.125.53.99 i got

"pinging (weird symbols) with 32 bytes of data:
destination host unreachable.
destination host unreachable.
destination host unreachable.
destination host unreachable.
ping statistics for :
packets: sent=4, received=0, lost=4 (100% loss),"

[ArmaTheGreek]

Alright, try going to start > control panel > network connections > local area connection and see if it's enabled or disabled, if disabled try enabling it (right click then enable..) and type again 'ipconfig' into the black screen and see if you're getting IP address now.

[popularityzero]

before i reinstalled my network adapter i tried disabling/enabling it, but after i reinstalled the adapter drivers i didn't even go back to check if it was enabled. needless to say, it's been disabled the whole time, but when i tried to enable it again i get the pop up that says "enabling..." and then after a second or two it goes to "connection failed".

[popularityzero]

got the connection enabled now, but still no internet.

ipconfig results:

connection-specific dns suffix : gateway.2wire.net
ip address : 192.168.1.73
subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
default gateway : 192.168.1.254

want me to ping those two things you mentioned earlier?

[popularityzero]

results of pinging google:

pinging www.1.google.com (weird symbols here again) with 32 bytes of data:
reply from 74.125.95.147: bytes=32 time=79ms ttl=242
reply from 74.125.95.147: bytes=32 time=77ms ttl=242
reply from 74.125.95.147: bytes=32 time=77ms ttl=242
reply from 74.125.95.147: bytes=32 time=78ms ttl=242
ping statistics for :
packets: sent=4, received=4, lost=0 (0%loss)
approximate round trip times in milli-seconds;
minimum=77ms, maximum=79ms, average=77ms


results from pinging the ip address you gave me:

pinging (weird symbols) with 32 bytes of data:
reply from 74.125.53.99: bytes=32 time=78ms ttl=53
reply from 74.125.53.99: bytes=32 time=75ms ttl=53
reply from 74.125.53.99: bytes=32 time=75ms ttl=53
reply from 74.125.53.99: bytes=32 time=76ms ttl=53
ping stats for :
packets: sent=4, received=4, lost=0 (0% loss)
approx. round trip times in milli-seconds:
min.=75ms, max.=78ms, average=76ms

[ArmaTheGreek]

I think you're getting connection now.

You might wanna check your browser.

Tools > internet options > connection tab > lan settings > make sure nothing is checked

You might wanna optimize your browser too, delete cookies, temp files, history, clear cache and restore IE default settings.

[popularityzero]

wow...never thought it would be something so simple. i feel like such an idiot.

all the help you gave was amazing...thanks so much. i may be new to the site, but you speak wonders about how helpful this place is...i hope the whole community is like you.

thanks again.

[ArmaTheGreek]

Glad to hear that zero. Glad I've helped you.

TSF is a great tech support community, if there's any problem with your computer (not financial okay? ) just don't hesitate to post it here so that we can check it out for ya. You can also post here if you feel helping somebody.

Happy surfing!