HELP: IE/Outlook Express can't access internet, but Firefox and other apps can!

[sonick]

Okay, yeah yeah yeah I know, "switch to firefox", but my dad has a bunch of sites that aren't FF capable, and he his email is all set up in OE, so switching is not an option.

Basically yeah, its weird. All other programs that access the internet work fine, except IE and OE (when sending email or accessing Hotmail via HTTP, POP mail works fine).

For IE, when I start up I get a "syntax invalid error" message. If i try and visit a site, I get a DNS error.

OE only breaks when accessing Hotmail (which uses HTTP) and sending mail via SMTP.

I've tried rebooting the router, with no luck. Refreshing the IP address doesn't work either.

Ideas? Registry settings? Problems with a windows update patch?

Thanks

[Gee]

Reload IE 6.0, it will update both IE and Outlook Express

[Jayhoo]

Make sure that your internet settings don't have anything listed as proxy servers.

[yuprules]

Besides the proxy, it sounds like spyware!

http://www.safer-networking.org
http://www.lavasoft.de

[Gdog]

Do you have some sort of internet security software installed, EG Zonealarm or Norton Internet Security? Uninstall any software and reboot...

[sonick]

Do you have some sort of internet security software installed, EG Zonealarm or Norton Internet Security? Uninstall any software and reboot...

Nope, only windows firewall, which I tried disabling, but still did not do anything.

[yuprules]

Nope, only windows firewall, which I tried disabling, but still did not do anything.

SPYWARE!

[sonick]

I ran Spybot Search and Destroy last night, didn't find anything.

I'll try a couple other ones to make sure its clean, and do a full system scan (unless you guys think its unneccessary, since its running in the background all the time anyways)

[yuprules]

I ran Spybot Search and Destroy last night, didn't find anything.

I'll try a couple other ones to make sure its clean, and do a full system scan (unless you guys think its unneccessary, since its running in the background all the time anyways)

Ad-aware?
http://www.lavasoft.de

[bsorensen]

g double o gle search

DIAL A FIX

use the lite version. works wonders.

for the OE problem, by access the internet do you mean links don't open?
if yes, make sure it is set as your default...a same with IE

for Firefox, download IE Tabs

[sonick]

for the OE problem, by access the internet do you mean links don't open? if yes, make sure it is set as your default...a same with IE

No, I mean it can't access Hotmail coz it is accessed via HTTP (as compared to POP3 for regular mail), which likely means it is the same problem as IE not being able to access the internet.