long post btw, posted from a different computer…

for months, if not a year, i've not been able to use IE or chrome – i get a message saying that it cannot connect to the internet, and that there is an;

"invalid search request"

firefox worked ok though (apart from videos on the bbc website – when they finished, FF crashed)

my avast virus protection had expired, so i uninstalled it – FF worked as normal.

installed AVG a couple of days ago – FF worked as usual.

computer has been running real slow recently, so i defragged it last night. and then turned it off.

this morning FF stopped working, saying that there was an invalid search request – and indicated that this was something to do with google desktop.

the only site which i could get access to was gmail.

i know little about computers, so thinking that google desktop was the problem, i uninstalled it.

now FF say that "the proxy server is refusing connections"

however, i can still access gmail.

what the heck is going on?!
how can i get back on the internet on my laptop? i'm on holiday at the moment, and don't have any reinstallation discs, not that i'd know how o use them – i also have a lot of data which i don't want to lose…

help!

You may want to post a few more details of the laptop and what operating system you're using. Your post suggests that before a year ago you could use IE. Is that correct? Did anything else happen at the same time?
How do you connect to the internet? Wired or wireless? What sort of router?
If you're using a router are there any other pc's on the same network? Do they work ok?
Have you done a full virus scan with AVG? (defrag won't do much).

ok, its a dell, running XP, 4 years old.
i think i could access IE for a while, but have always used FF, so don't really know. can't think of anyhting else which happened.
i did get the laptop 'spring cleaned' at a computer shop 18 months ago, must have been after that, as i had to reinstall/download FF.

using wireless – her in france and at home. numerous PCs/laptops still working.
AVG says virus free (as did avast before it expired)

its only this morning that it stopped working, all thats happened between it working and now is the defrag and an automatic update thing.

Uninstall AVG.

Download, install, update and run Malwarebytes

Download, install, update and run Microsoft Security Essentials

Tell us what they find.

Well, I'm no expert (compared to some of the IT guys on here) but I'd give up and just do a reinstall when you get back to the disks. It should work better anyway after a fresh install. As to your comment about having lots of data you don't want to lose……it is all backed up isn't it?

cougar, i can't access the sites needed to download them!

richmars, i guess that might be the only option… most of it is backedup, but i probably need to do it again…

Can you see other pc's connected to the same router? If so, download the stuff cougar says (as exe's) then copy them to your laptop.

Or, USB key.

ah…
🙂