browsers lose the connection, but im still conected

[bean354]

recently i have been having problems with my browsers. i use both safari and firefox over a wireless network at home.

i can happily surf for around 10 mins with safari, but after that time it is as though i have lost my connection to the internet. i can then use Firefox for a short time, around 5 mins after that, then the same problem arises. in order to get back online i have to restart my laptop.

i have no idea what the problem is, its been doing it for over a week now, and i need my internet as i have university deadlines coming up.

the router/isp are fine, as my flatmates both have steady connections (ones running XP the other Leopard). avast, ad-aware, and malwarebytes all come up clean- though i had some reported malware a week or so ago which adaware dealt with

i have however been trying to make my laaptop as fast as possible without overclocking it, so have been diabling startup services and other non-essental services that eat my precious ram and cpu power.
is it a common vista problem? or have i changed a setting or something thats making it do this?
i have read other threads with simmilar issues, but have not found anything that helps.
please help... i will try anything as long as it means i dont have to reinstall windows yet

thanks

 

[Airbot]

Did you try the diagnose and repair option in Network and Sharing Center? How about a System Restore? I wouldn't go disabling services unless you're absolutely sure about what they are for and used by.

 

[bean354]

diagnose and repair doesnt find anything, apparently the connection is fine. i did do a system restore... but i was only able to go a few days back, the problem still existed.
and as for the services, all the microsoft ones are still running, and i only disables ones i knew.

 

[MSDOS]

Your system could be infected with a malware or a virus. Try running a complete scan on the system for virus/adware/spyware/trojan/BHO etc and see what happens. If still no joy , try reformatting and reinstall Vista.

if you wanna diagnose and belive in more research stuff , try to find out whether the conenction still holds the IP address or not after you get disconnected on the internet. It is also possible that your firewall software could be affecting your connection so as a start off try disabling the firewall for some time and see what happens.

 

[bean354]

thanks
ive shut down Zonealarm and ill see how it goes.

i had zone alarm previously, but heard that it uses a lot of power in vista, so i replaced it with comodo. after finding that too hard to use and very annoying i reinstalled zonealarm... it was after this that i started to notice the problems, i think... it might not have been straight away though.

did a another scan yesterday with avast adaware and malwarebytes and all still clean.

would need to check it, but the ip address should still be there, it is only the browsers that die, everything else (msn, yahoo, utorrent, skype) still run fine

 

[MSDOS]

thanks
ive shut down Zonealarm and ill see how it goes.

i had zone alarm previously, but heard that it uses a lot of power in vista, so i replaced it with comodo. after finding that too hard to use and very annoying i reinstalled zonealarm... it was after this that i started to notice the problems, i think... it might not have been straight away though.

did a another scan yesterday with avast adaware and malwarebytes and all still clean.

would need to check it, but the ip address should still be there, it is only the browsers that die, everything else (msn, yahoo, utorrent, skype) still run fine

I understand. See what you get with Zone Alarm and lemme know. k ?

 

[bean354]

did a another scan yesterday with avast adaware and malwarebytes and all still clean.

if it is the firewall, then why does it give me around 10 mins access?

 

[MSDOS]

did a another scan yesterday with avast adaware and malwarebytes and all still clean.

if it is the firewall, then why does it give me around 10 mins access?

a firewall can block the access intermittently , thats possible. See what you get with Zone Alarm as i mentioned earlier and let us know.

 

[bean354]

shutting down zonealarm had no effect.

it may or may not be a coincidence, but safari crashed shortly after i plugged in my external harddrive. im goin to look into that/scan it thoroughly, hopefully i can find something and sort out this problem

 

[bean354]

Just to keep you all informed... the problem continued when the harddrive wasnt connected. i have just reinstalled safari, and also chrome to see if they make any difference