IT Queries: Computer problems answered

When I attempt to access the Internet via Internet Explorer I get the message “You appear to be connected to the Internet but the page cannot be displayed” regardless of the page I am attempting to open. Any ideas?

This sounds like a classic web browser hijack where your web surfing is redirected through another page. You should follow our Removing a Trojan instructions.

Replacing Internet Explorer with another browser is highly recommended as well. We like Mozilla Firefox, but there are other alternatives as well.

If you are still having problems, we have further ideas on our Browsers not connecting to the Internet page.

I’m finding certain sites like Ebay, YouTube and other sites won’t open. The screen just stays blank and my computer slows down.

It sounds like you have a problem with your Flash player. The first thing you need to do is clean up the system by running a program like ccleaner to flush out any temporary files that could be causing the problem.

Should cleaning up the computer not work, then you’ll have to reinstall Flash. The first thing to do is run the Add/Remove Programs function and remove an Adobe Flash programs listed. Once you’ve uninstalled them, reboot and then run the Adobe Flash Player removal tool. Once you’ve run the tool, reboot your computer.

With Adobe Flash Player now completely off your computer, visit the Abode Flash website and reinstall.

Since installing Norton Antivirus I can’t access the Internet. I already have a firewall so why is NAV stopping me getting online?

The culprit is the Internet Worm Protection in some versions of  Norton Antivirus. You’ll need to disable this function.

First, open Norton by clicking the Start Button, selecting Programs and Norton Antivirus. If you have a number of Norton Products installed you may have several different Norton folders in your programs list.

In the Norton screen click Options, select Norton Antivirus(this may vary on the version) and on the left pane click Internet Worm Protection.

On the right, turn off the box for Enable Internet Worm Protection or Turn Internet Worm Protection on. Click Okay and exit the program.

When you restart the computer the system will no longer have Internet Worm Protection working and you should be able to access the net.

For last 5 days none of the browsers that are on my computer are working even though there is no problem with the internet connection.

I also tried to disable the windows firewall and windows defender but they are still not working.

The suprising thing is gtalk and msn messenger are working fine. I have windows vista operating system and norton antivirus.

There are a number of things that could be causing this; the common problems are router settings, firewalls and our favourite, the malware infection.

With any Internet connection problem, it’s worthwhile checking for malware. Follow our instructions on Removing a Trojan, keeping in mind you’ll have to use another computer to download the programs.

The next thing to check are the firewalls. As you are using Norton Antivirus it is possible one of its functions is blocking the system, look for Internet Worm Protection in your Norton settings and try turning this off.

Finally, it could be your modem or router blocking Port 80 access. You’ll need to refer to your router manual and check that the WWW service or Port 80 hasn’t been blocked.

On ABC Radio last week you advised how it is possible to keep a bigpond email address by paying $25/year and then being able to have internet with another provider. Please advise these details.Thanking you.

If you have a Bigpond.com email address it is possible to retain it by moving to Bigpond’s Casual User plan which charges $25 a year. The plan also allows dial up Internet access at $3 per hour so it can be a handy fall back connection as well.

There is catch though. If you are on an older Bigpond ADSL or cable plan, then you won’t be able to retain your bigpond.net.au address.

If keeping an email address is important, then it’s important to register your own domain name which will follow you wherever you go.

When trying to watch a news or lifestyle video or Youtube it goes for a few seconds and then stops for quite a few seconds, then starts again. It is virually impossible to comprehend what it is about. very frustrating. What is the cause of this?

Your Internet connection  isn’t moving data to your computer fast enough for the videos to play smoothly. The computer has to stop and wait for more data to be loaded from the server.

The problem is you simply need a faster Internet connection and you should talk to your ISP about moving up a plan or considering moving your service elsewhere.

For the moment though you can fix the problem by pausing the clip once it starts playing. Flash based clips will continue to download and if you wait a few minutes you should be able to watch the full clip without interruption.

You can also change the buffer settings which control how much video data your computer will download by right clicking one of the clips you want to play and choose settings.

In the Flash Player settings you then choose the yellow folder icon and move the Local Storage setting to the far right which is unlimited. This means the entire clip will be downloaded while you wait.

Waiting for clips to download and increasing buffers won’t fix your underlying problem that your Internet connection is simply too slow, so you’ll still have to see about getting a better plan.

If I view a particular website does the website or by any means does it get downloaded to my machine.eg is i am visiting youtube or yahoo, do the videos get downloaded to my machine?

In general yes, it’s called caching and the ideas is by storing data on the computer, the web browser or media player can show the site or play the clip faster.

Sometimes you’ll find the clip plays faster than your Internet connection can store the information and so you’ll see a message telling you the clip is being buffered.

Sometimes browsers and media players don’t clean up after themselves and the caches become too big which can slow your computer and clog your hard drive. This is why it’s good to regularly clean up your computer.

I have a Dodo mobile wireless broadband modem HUAWEI #E160E, and a Compaq presario C700 (C774TU) laptop.

The modem did work at first, but then I was doing Vista updates and the computer shutdown to re-start while the modem was still running along with a program that shows the processor and ram usage/speeds (displays on the right hand side of the screen).

The computer never restarted and I had to manually shut it down and re-start in safe mode. There is a partition to back up the necessary start up files, but I thought they would update automatically, apparently not. Now the modem won’t work and I don’t have a previous copy to revert back to and re-load.

The computer works fine when I uninstall the modem software, but if I try to re-install it, it will  ”hang” and won’t complete the installation. The processor goes wild at 100% and just stays there. I have to manually shut it down and start in safe mode to un-install the modem. I have tried to update drivers but that won’t work.

I notice that if I plug the modem in that it becomes listed a a “drive” or storage drive in devise manager, not as a modem (as im my desktop I now have it plugged into). What have I done?

The problem lies with your system not recognising the modem correctly and that’s probably messing up the installation routine.

Forcing the drivers to install is the first thing to try. Make sure the drivers are extracted or copied to a folder on your hard drive and then attempt the following.

Plug the modem in, let the system detect it as a “drive”, right click the drive in Device Manager and delete. Then run the modem installation program.

The second thing to try is to again delete the “drive” in Device Manager and then force a redetection by clicking Action and then Scan for hardware changes. When the system detects the device, choose the Install from a disk or specific location option and point the wizard to where you’ve saved the modem drivers.

Finally, if the system insists on detecting the modem as a “drive” then in Device Manager, right-click on the drive, choose Update driver and select the Install from a disk or specific location once again. Follow the wizard and that should resolve the problem.

Once you’ve done these, you may have to run the installation program again for the other associated wireless Internet software to work.

I am able to receive emails, but unable to send them.  Windows XP & MS IE installed. The error message is “ The connection to the server has failed. Account: ‘pop3.people.net.au‘, Protocol: SMTP, Port:25, Secure[SSL]:No, Socket error:10060, Error number:0x800CCC0E.

Any thoughts?

The immediate thought is your firewall has decided to block your email program sending data.

To fix the built in Windows Firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2, open the Control Panel, choose Windows Firewall, click the Exceptions tab and tick the email program.

If the email program isn’t listed, then you can either manually add the program through the Add Program button. Although it may be easier to reset the firewall through selecting the Advanced tab and clicking the Restore Defaults button.