Cannot Connect, Any programs other than FF Options

[smoke]

Hey guys. Not a single program on my computer will connect to the Internet. The only thing that will connect is web browsers. Things like AIM, Skype, Y! Messenger, and Limewire won't connect no matter what I do. I've searched high and low over the Internets, and I get the same answer. Everyone says it's my Firewall. It's not. I've disabled the firewall, made sure all those programs were allowed to connect, and everything. It's nothing with my Internet because my desktop works fine. This is just an issue with my laptop. I use it more because I like to watch cable on my big ass HDTV while surfing the web. Its OS is Windows XP.

Any ideas? This is killing me. I'm very tech savvy and I can usually figure out whats wrong with my computer and fix it in minutes, but this has me stumped. It's probably something really simple and I'm just over analyzing the problem.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[illriginal]

After the defrag, while in safemode with networking, see if you can connect. If you can connect check your firewall settings, if the settings are correct... there's a possibility that there's a virus of some sort preventing you from connecting your other programs.


The only other thing I can think of is that you're on a wireless connection and it's getting limited.

[smoke]

After the defrag, while in safemode with networking, see if you can connect. If you can connect check your firewall settings, if the settings are correct... there's a possibility that there's a virus of some sort preventing you from connecting your other programs.
The only other thing I can think of is that you're on a wireless connection and it's getting limited.

ok. I'm defragging it now in SafeMode. I'm on my iPhone right now. How could my wireless be limited? I've checked the settings several times and this is my own wireless connection so I set it up. It's not limited as far as I know.

[illriginal]

ok. I'm defragging it now in SafeMode. I'm on my iPhone right now. How could my wireless be limited? I've checked the settings several times and this is my own wireless connection so I set it up. It's not limited as far as I know.

Wireless connections are funny like that. There's many reasons that it would cause it to limit the connectivity, a radio, cellphone, microwave, etc.. Remember to run Windows in "Safe Mode with Networking". We want to test the programs to make sure they're able to connect to the internet in this mode.

For some reason I have a feeling it's gonna be your wireless connection but what's odd is that the browser is letting you connect without a problem. Another thing you should try is try to connect with the programs but leave the internet browser closed. Do not surf the internet when tryin to connect your programs. This is a way to test if your connectivity is getting limited. Because sometimes only 1 program can go online while the others don't get sufficient bandwidth/connectivity to connect to the internet.