Hello! I am new to this forum and have joined because I am having terrible problems with my 2004 Sony Vaio. It runs Windows XP. I have been using Mozilla Firefox on it since I got it, and I also have had IE on it for the past 18 months.
Until about 6 weeks ago everything was working fine - I could access & load any web page in either browser. Then I updated my Norton AntiVirus and also updated the Mozilla Firefox browser around that time (to the best of my memory!).
Since then I can only access Google, Gmail and one or two other sites -- 99% of the sites I routinely visit -- including Comcast, Ebay, Amazon, my bank portal and several blogs - will not load. I see a "loading" or "waiting for information" message on the bottom of the page and that is it -- I can leave it "loading" for several hours and return to find the pages have still not loaded.
Here is what I have tried so far:
1. Emptied the cache, cookies, temporary internet files.
2. Optimized and de-fragged the hard drive not once but 3 or 4 times.
3. Run all utilities on Norton CleanSweep & SystemWorks including the "diagnosis & repair" options.
4. Pinged the internet connection.
5. Spent a couple of hours on the "live help chat" with SONY - who recommended I pay $30.00 and use their phone help but who otherwise had no clue what was happening.
6. Spent several hours on the phone with Comcast establishing that it is NOT my internet connection causing the problem.
7. Found a lot of very confusing articles on Mozillazine and Mozilla Help that do not actually seem to address this specific problem (especially since pages are not loading in IE, either).
At this point I'm at a complete loss and really do not know what to do - I am not very technically proficient and I am on the verge of getting rid of the computer -- I cannot use it for work or personal application unless I can access the web!!!!!
Any advice, suggestions or resources would be immensely appreciated!
Thank you very much -
Emma
Until about 6 weeks ago everything was working fine - I could access & load any web page in either browser. Then I updated my Norton AntiVirus and also updated the Mozilla Firefox browser around that time (to the best of my memory!).
Since then I can only access Google, Gmail and one or two other sites -- 99% of the sites I routinely visit -- including Comcast, Ebay, Amazon, my bank portal and several blogs - will not load. I see a "loading" or "waiting for information" message on the bottom of the page and that is it -- I can leave it "loading" for several hours and return to find the pages have still not loaded.
Here is what I have tried so far:
1. Emptied the cache, cookies, temporary internet files.
2. Optimized and de-fragged the hard drive not once but 3 or 4 times.
3. Run all utilities on Norton CleanSweep & SystemWorks including the "diagnosis & repair" options.
4. Pinged the internet connection.
5. Spent a couple of hours on the "live help chat" with SONY - who recommended I pay $30.00 and use their phone help but who otherwise had no clue what was happening.
6. Spent several hours on the phone with Comcast establishing that it is NOT my internet connection causing the problem.
7. Found a lot of very confusing articles on Mozillazine and Mozilla Help that do not actually seem to address this specific problem (especially since pages are not loading in IE, either).
At this point I'm at a complete loss and really do not know what to do - I am not very technically proficient and I am on the verge of getting rid of the computer -- I cannot use it for work or personal application unless I can access the web!!!!!
Any advice, suggestions or resources would be immensely appreciated!
Thank you very much -
Emma
