whats going on

[Craig.]

i cant explain it. but my computer seems to have decided to crap up and leave. none of the main search sites work, i cant get to google, yahoo search wont work, Ask.com doesnt work. i tried my other computer they worked fine, i still cant get livewave to work, on either computer, yet flyboy could get it to work(thanks for the pics from it mate:)) and then its just some sites are picky as to what will work. i have tried to update as much as i could and it hasnt helped, i cant afford to do a complete reinstall, there are things on here that i cant really loose, which are to big for disk, and since i cant connect my computer to the other i dont want to loose them. any help would be much appreciated.
Side note, i have tried both IE browser and also the Netscape browser, no luck with either.

[fido]

I hope you don't find this condescending, but have you tried runinng spyware, and antivirus software on your system.  You might also try to defrag as well.  If you have tried all of the above, you might reinstall just those programs that are giving you trouble.  I know this is very basic, and I am sure you probably have thought of all this before, but maybe not.

                     Fido

[Lethal.Ambition]

Also, try checking for system errors

[BFMF]

Are you running a firewall?

[Craig.]

andrew, yes, but even with it off it still doesnt work.

astro, tried that thanks though, i could do with first aid but none are compatible with xp. unless there is a version after 2000 i am missing

Fido, thanks tried them all again to make sure, but still no luck either.

[Rifleman]

I just went through a bout of that stuff Craig.  Sat morning I got fed up finally and formatted my "C" drive and did a re-install of the O/S...........

I had no mail in or out, I had trouble getting pages to load then finally, I had no browser, but I did have ICQ for messaging..........
...........now, all is fine once again......I had to do a re-install of a few programs and all my drivers, but its worth it.....my benefit is that I use a relatively small "C" drive partition (5 gigs) which is mainly for my O/S, and keep all my apps in other drives.....I find it convenient to do it this way as I don't usually lose too much on the format.....

[Craig.]

thanks ken.
but i really cant afford to reformat, i have some files that i dont want to risk on disc, and i cant get them back again if they are lost.
i am hoping it might be a problem with my ISP, if it isnt sorted by friday, i will prob then risk the files to disc