Internet connection but not loading websites?

C

Cappucino

Member
Hi,

Recently my PC has randomly stopped loading websites and other programs that connect to the internet for short periods of time despite saying I have internet access. At the same time I can still access websites on my laptop which suggests the internet connection itself is fine.

My PC is connected via Ethernet and has no wi-fi capabilities whereas on my laptop I'm using wireless connection so I guess there's either something wrong with the Ethernet connection or it's the PC. I'll be buying a new Ethernet cable soon to see if this fixes the problem but since it's only happening for short periods of time I'm not sure if this is what's causing it.

Before this started happening something I'd downloaded hijacked my browser and started changing things. I uninstalled it and have done several scans since which don't find anything but I was wondering if there was a virus or something that could stop a PC connecting to websites?
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
What are you scanning with? I'd suggest malwarebytes (free), do a full scan with that. Download it on your laptop and then install it in case you have got a bug.

When your pc stops connecting to sites, may be worth checking the network usage, it's possible something is hogging the bandwidth at those times. Also virus and malwarebytes are known to configure a proxy to control your Web use, if you open Internet Explorer and goto Internet options, connections, LAN settings, in there you'll see options to enable a proxy. Disable if there's anything in there you haven't configured yourself.

It's unlikely to be a proxy issue, I would have thought that would have disabled any connection rather than randomly causing issues. I'd suggest it's remnant damage from your previous infection. After such an infection, I'd always suggest a reinstall of the os, antivirus is really there for prevention rather than cure, if something gets through and starts spreading then even if you can remove it, there's usually more damage than you can immediately see.
 
C

Cappucino

Member
I've been scanning with Malwarebytes mostly as well Spybot. A few generic things come up after it's finished scanning but nothing that concerns me or looks like it could be causing this.

I guess if it keeps happening then I'll try a clean install but I was hoping to avoid that since it's a pain to download everything again.
 
C

Cadwah

Rising Star
If your anti-virus and malwarebytes aren't picking anything up it could be an issue with the browser. Which browser are you using? Have you gone through the usual clearing your cache etc? Re-install the browser? Use a different browser? All things you could try before re-installing the OS
 
C

Cappucino

Member
I'm using Google Chrome. I thought it might be the browser at first but then when I tried to load some online games they kept having connection errors too so I assumed it wasn't just Chrome being a pain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top