My desktop says it's connected, but does not access the internet.

[justagirlinvt]

I am using Windows Vista on an HP desktop and I am connected to a wireless network via my laptop through an ethernet cable. I have been using this setup successfully until today, and have also successfully pinged google.com. My laptop is still connected to the internet - which is how I am currently accessing this site - so it isn't a fault with the router or connection. I have restarted both computers more than once. I have tried looking through threads for similar issues, but the posters don't seem to list enough detail and/or we don't share the same problem. Since I can't connect to the internet, I can't download any additional software to diagnose malware or a virus, and what I have is not detecting anything. Please help!

 

[justagirlinvt]

I don't know what happened, but I did a system restore from earlier in the day (it was my only option; at that point, I was already having problems but I figured I would try it anyway) and, miraculously, Internet Explorer was working for a brief period. It was only for an hour or so and Chrome still couldn't connect. I was able to download some newer virus software for free (avasti!), but there were no viruses detected. I manually found and uninstalled some Spigot malware, but otherwise I have still not been able to determine the cause of my internet connection issue.

Also, when I test for multiple firewalls, it tells me that the Windows firewall is on (no matter how many times I try to turn it off to determine whether or not that's the issue) as well as Norton Internet Security 2007, of which I have removed as many files as I was able (I just got error messages when I tried to uninstall the whole program) and whose services I've disabled. I don't know how Norton can even be remotely operational at this point, but the Windows firewall test claims that it is on. I'm beginning to think that these firewalls are the root of my problem, although I still don't understand why everything was working one minute and not the next without having changed any settings...