O/T Laptop problem

[Christies Child]

My daughters Acer laptop seems to have developed a problem.

She can get Google but no other web sites. She also cannot access her Hotmail account or Facebook, in fact she can't get anything.

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

Thanks
CC

[Mark S]

My daughters Acer laptop seems to have developed a problem.

She can get Google but no other web sites. She also cannot access her Hotmail account or Facebook, in fact she can't get anything.

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

Thanks
CC

Can she swap with you?



Sorry Neil, I couldnt resist!

[Sammy h]

Control panel, internet settings, internet options, browing history settings and try deleting the temporary internet files, or reducing the amount of disk space used on these files.

[Gnasher]

She's clicked something she shouldn't, probably been duped by a pop-up that said her PC wasn't protected and to click here to fix it.

It could be a rootkit virus. If she uses a freeware virus checker then they don't always protect from rootkits. IF it is, they're not easy to fix. They tend to block sites where you can download fixes and even if you copy a fix program from another PC, they stop the fix program running. Last time I had to fix a rootkit on a PC it took 3 days, 2 to work out what had been installed and a day to get the fix program to run. Even if you can work out when it was installed and you have a system restore prior to that day, that doesn't seem to sort it out.

[shrimpnsave]

My daughters Acer laptop seems to have developed a problem.

She can get Google but no other web sites. She also cannot access her Hotmail account or Facebook, in fact she can't get anything.

Any suggestions as to what may be wrong?

Thanks
CC

buy a new one or format it

[Keith]

does it affect all browsers? Could download Chrome on a different machine and try that?

Alternatively, down load Ubuntu, save to disk and boot from it, then use Firefox from there. Wouldn't want to do that long term but it would get things running again.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

Have a blank CD ready. It works well.

[shrimpnsave]

does it affect all browsers? Could download Chrome on a different machine and try that?

Alternatively, down load Ubuntu, save to disk and boot from it, then use Firefox from there. Wouldn't want to do that long term but it would get things running again.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

Have a blank CD ready. It works well.

f disk it,which means totall wipe out ov yr hard drive and you have a new pc

[Gnasher]

does it affect all browsers? Could download Chrome on a different machine and try that?

Alternatively, down load Ubuntu, save to disk and boot from it, then use Firefox from there. Wouldn't want to do that long term but it would get things running again.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

Have a blank CD ready. It works well.

f disk it,which means totall wipe out ov yr hard drive and you have a new pc

Some good ideas there shrimpnsave but maybe you'd better add that all of your ideas mean losing everything on the hard drive. I'm not sure what extra benefits fdisk would give you over a format apart from losing any hidden recovery partitions. Nor do you mention that your idea of getting a new PC gets a new PC with no operating system.

IF anyone formats or fdisks a PC, have a bootable operating system disk ready and backup all your files to an external device first and finally and most important, make sure you know what you are doing.

[Christies Child]

Cheers fellas for the advice.

Unfortunately because she can't gain access to any web sites (although she can get Google but will not accept any web site address details to get help) it looks as though she has a serious problem, far greater than my limited know how.

I've contacted a local technician who I've used in the past to ask for a visit.

Thanks for your input.

[Mighty Red]

I think it's hereditary.

[North Stand Shrimp]

sounds like the Google page is just in the cache and your not actually looking at a live page! that would explain why you cannot actually use google.
I would suggest you simply check your internet connection.
try resetting your internet router.(switching off then on again)

If you are using the same internet connection though, then I suggest it's obviously not the router and rather her laptop with the issue. If its connecting via a wireless connection, check that the WLAN is switched on and connected to the wireless router.

[Keith]

sounds like the Google page is just in the cache

That is a good point. Click 'refresh' button first (two green arrows next to the house on IE) and see if Google disappears too, in which case it's the connection.

can she get e-mail?

[Christies Child]

She's now got access to the internet but can't get access either her Hotmail or Facebook accounts.

I have to admit that anything to do with computers baffles me!
Even the simplest of tasks........but I'm sure there are others out there like me.

[the stowford press]

close the liddy thing and bang on top a couple of times really hard,then shake it,not sure if works on a laptop but great if your bottle of ciders flat!!

[shrimpnsave]

heh im sorry,i thought everyone knows how to format a pc and i left out the important bit bout o/s.if u format a drive it will leave mirror images on yr hd if u simply format it.thats why i sead fdisk it