<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> It sounds like the machine is infested. I've seen the same behavior at work. If it can be rolled back a couple of months, to a restore point before the issue, it might be salvaged. Barring that, or even if it works, scan with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware program. <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php">http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php</a> If those two things don't work, a re-install from scratch may be faster than repeated attempts at repair. Also, if they have to keep Vista, have him download and install Microsoft's Security Essentials package and un-install his other anti-virus products. Microsoft has a better idea of what can go wrong with their software than any other "free" product and many of the pay products. Have him try Ubuntu Studio. Good luck. Don Bosman <h2> </h2> On 11/7/2010 8:51 AM, Frank Dolinar wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:4CD6AEC4.6090309@comcast.net" type="cite">Hi, everyone,     I was talking with a friend yesterday who presented me with a problem for which I have no answer.     Perhaps one of you can shed some light on the situation.     His computer is a recent Dell system with an Intel quad-core chip, running Vista (Vista Home, I believe), and he's had both IE and Firefox browsers stop working, each claiming that it can't access the particular site requested (pick a site, doesn't matter).  IE failed about a month ago.  Firefox failed last Tuesday.     He also has Chrome on the system, and that appears to work without problem.     I verified this situation on his computer.  Baffling.     I did a complete uninstall of Firefox and downloaded and reinstalled it.  Same error.     My suspicion is that there's some bit of malware that is causing this situation.  I'm wondering whether the problem isn't caused by malware but by something in either the Chrome browser or some problem with his firewall.  He also said that he has more than one anti-virus package installed on his system -- which I believe is not recommended.     That's what I know at the moment.     If anyone can suggest an approach or a solution, I'd appreciate any help you can provide. Thanks, Frank </blockquote> </body> </html>