The first thing to do seems to be to narrow down the problem.

Can you access the internet at all after this happens, or is it just downloading files which is a problem?

have you got your AV/firewall/anti-malware software up and running?

might be my XP tendancies making me over paranoid, but Id be inclined to get the AV up and running and give it a scan.

Whenever I install Windoze my installation order goes

drivers from disks > Firefox > AV > Firewall > windows update > other software.


This stems from the bad old days when an unpatched XP machine would be infected with something within 30 seconds of going online

I install firewall and AV BEFORE I plug the machine into the network, about the only way to be sure you dont get instantly infected by some nasty IMO.

Then again I am a little paranoid in this area

this is certainly the best idea, Im just getting slack and cocky in my old age and havent been caught out for a while!

You can run standard Windows Firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials (free with Win 7, which you can update to a better version online for free) and be totally safe from virus/malware.

this may well be true, but crazy says hes turned the firewall off. Unless anyones got any better ideas I still think a malware sweep is in order.

yeah its a legit disc, etc
had win7 running for a while prior to now, went back to xp as win7 was doing my head in, but couldnt make the jump back to xp as it felt wierd

ive done another frsh install, put AV/Firewalls up before I get on the internet, evrything works fine until windows updates itself and screws it up.

Ive just setup another admin user *crazylegs2* say, and it works fine and can download anything it wants.

I have changed the dir for my user files to another drive, i wonder if its something to do with that? as the admin and additional user admin are still in default location?
Although i did follow a guide on the net on how to do it via regedit

soopah, where and how do i check the hosts file? thanks

- forgot to add, the other thing i cant do is add to favorites on IE, works on other accounts in default location etc

I might try to ditch this user account and use one of the others as I cant work it out