Winsock

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It's just a thought but have you tried going into IE's advanced properties and re-setting them to the default settings. There are many things in there that could play havoc with certain web pages and Internet functionality?

 

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The fact that the problems only seem to happen in IE would tend to point to a misconfiguration there. The sad truth is that Microsoft is forever advising people to change the IE settings in a way that breaks many webpages, especially those set to use ActiveX and are optomized for IE.

Bluerinse has a very good and practical suggestion about resetting the Advanced Settings to the default.

If you find that that change fixes your problem, then you will know that to use IE is to lower your security settings. IE is too insecure a browser to use in today's malware infested Internet. It is no longer safe to use. Now that I have found a way to use FF to get Windows Updates, I really have no use for IE except if I need to print my MCP Transcript.

 

I have tried this already with no success. Any way it still wouldnt explain why msn messenger fails to login as well, tho i am just guessing that the 2 problems are related.

 

twizzle,

As you may or may not know, according to Microsoft "By default, Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Home Edition install Windows Messenger." Windows Messenger is the Instant Messenger application that is integrated with Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional. You're supposed to use Windows Messenger to login to the "MSN Instant Messenger" network.

MSN Messenger is a different program that's designed for those operating systems earlier than Windows XP that does not have Windows Messenger integrated with the operating system, such as Windows 2000 Professional, Windows Millenium Edition, and Windows 98.

Maybe by installing MSN Messenger on your Windows XP computer, it is conflicting with Windows Messenger, therefore the inability to login. Try uninstalling MSN Messenger, then using Windows Messenger to login to the "MSN Messenger network"?

Links:
1) How to prevent Windows Messenger from running on a Windows XP-based computer - http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q302089
2) Microsoft Online Services - MSN Messenger System Requirements - http://join.msn.com/messenger/requirements

 

I can say categorically from recent experience on my PC at work that if IE's connection settings are broke, then Messenger wont sign in. It took me 2 days to figure it, as I use Firefox at work, so I never open IE (well, seldom), and although the Fox could browse fine, I still had no MSN.

Only when I reset IE to auto-detect settings, that I got MSN back up again. It deffo sounds like an issue with IE to me, but that's just my opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong as always

 

Jak, your right lol!! IE settings do affect messenger in some way. I've finally got it working but its tempremental. I uninstalled zone alarm, and it all worked. Re-installed zone alarm and it was still working. Then IE and MSN messenger just stopped again after a day. Then earlier FF stopped accessing the net too. I fiddled with IE settings rebboted a few times and its all back and running fine. For how long i dont know, and what exactly fixed what i have no idea..... Ah well thet trials of pc diagnostics

 

twizzle,

According to the "Microsoft Online Services - MSN Messenger System Requirements" webpage, it states "Browser - Microsoft(c) Internet Explorer version 6 SP1 or later must be installed on your computer, though it does not need to be your default browser." So I have to ask, is "IE 6.0 SP1" installed?

 

R.H

I can say yes IE6 SP1 is installed. All was working fine with MSN messenger, until the other day when it just stopped logging in and at the same time IE stopped accessing pages that required a login. However its all working again now. No idea what happened still tho.

 

That all of a sudden makes me think of Automatic Updates! Do you have that enabled? There were several changes made to IE in last month's updates, and some were known to break things, since one update at least was not a security update, but the results of a lawsuit. Some things that used to require a single click in IE would now require two clicks.

The other thing to look at is the Zone Alarm Program Control to make sure that IE is allowed to do its thing. This has certainly been an interesting problem!

 

Could you fire a link to that info Mary or explain more about this double click thing as I have encountered that and was somewhat perplexed

 

It is yet another one of those patent disputes that are becoming really annoying. Microsoft vs. Eolas

Eolas is upset that M$ changed the way you click on links rather than pay extortion to Eolas to leave the clicks the way they are.

 

To be honest Mary, im sure all this happened after an automatic update. I never used to have it enabled, but got fed up of it showing on my taskbar so enabled it, let it do its updates, then it broke my IE6 and messenger. I know this deffienatley happened as all my cookies were deleted, my history was wiped out and a few other minor things had been changed. Also the list of windows updates that appears in add/remove software has also disappeared stopping me from removing any that affect the pc adversly.

But why a reinstaall of zone alarm and a few other tweaks should have fixed it i dont know..... Tho im not sure that that is what actually cured the problem.

 

Twizzle look for a check box in add/remove that says *show updates*.

 

Thanks Mary, what next

 

There is now a cottage industry for lawyers looking for things to patent so they can claim patent violations and make lots of money off of other people's work. There are those who are pushing for patent reform, where you would actually have to prove that you not only came up with an idea, but develeoped it, and therefore would suffer financial harm from someone else infringing on it. IOW, the way patents should actually work.

The DCMA was a poorly thought out law, if any thought was put into it at all, and the abuses of it are more obvious than any benefits. Lawyers love it however...

 

Automatic updates are indeed a problem, and getting the nag to go away is an annoyance. Thank you Microsoft.

There is a good discussion of it in the current issue of the Windows Secrets Newsletter which is a very helpful newsletter with one of the most interesting subscription formulas. If you want the full Pro version of the newsletter, just send any amount of money you think you can afford or is reasonable. I personally send them $35 a year, as I find it a very valuable resource.

If you do get the paid Newsletter, you can read about the ups and downs of the various monthly patches from Microsoft MVP Susan Bradley, who tests and gives advice in the issue that comes out two days after Patch Tuesday. The Newsletter is twice a month. Like I said, you get the paid version even if you cannot afford to send that much, the amount is voluntary.

One other thing, and this I learned from Susan Bradley: If you have problems that are related to a Patch from MS, you can call MS Support free of charge!

 

netsh winsock reset catalog

(?)

 

A tad more on Arisen's fine suggestion

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm