Problems with the internet

Hello. I posted my question in the wrong forum so I'm reposting it here. I hope that's alright.

Back in December, I went on vacation for the holidays. When I returned, I noticed that my computer started to have some problems. The internet would just stop working. Everything would look good - the modem was connected, the computer showed an internet connection, but I couldn't get online. I even tried all the browsers I have (IE, Firefox, and Chrome) - none worked. My laptop worked fine via wireless just not the desktop.

I called the ISP and they said they fixed some issue outside. That didn't help so I called them back. A tech came out and swapped the modem saying I had a really old one. That seemed to help a little, but now the problem is back. I'm, either, unable to get on the internet or there's a major lag in getting the home page to boot up or from one page to another.

I have an older Dell Inspiron 530 desktop computer. It originally came with Windows Vista. Recently, I upgraded to Windows 8.

Here's some information on my system:
Windows 8
Installed memory (RAM): 3.00 GB
32-bit Operating System, x64-based processor
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E6550 @ 2.33GHz

Internet Explorer 10
Version: 10.0.9200.16466
Updated Versions: 10.0.1

Mozilla Firefox
17.0.1

Google Chrome
Version 23.0.1271.97m


I have gone through the READ & RUN ME First forum. While I was running HiJackThis/MG Tools, but I received this error:

For some reason your system denied write access to the Hosts file. If any hijacked domains are in this file, HijackThis may NOT be able to fix this.

If that happens, you need to edit the file yourself. To do this, click Start, Run, and type:

notepad C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

and press Enter. Fine the line(s) HijackThis reports and delete them. Save the file as 'hosts.' (with quotes), and reboot.

For Vista: simply exit HijackThis, right click on the HijackThis icon, choose 'Run as administrator'.

I've attached the Hijack This log. I also followed the directions and typed in the line it gave into the command prompt. I've included that file, as well as the Hitman Pro, Rogue Killer, TDSSkiller, and Maleware bytes file.

I'm unsure if there's a relation, but my computer has also been rebooting itself lately. When it comes back up, it just says that it ran into a problem and asks if I want to report the issue.

I'm actually unable to attach the files (I even tried renaming them), but the site says they are already attached. The link to the post I made before is: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?p=1795618#post1795618 and the files are attached there. I'm sorry I couldn't attach them here, as well.



Any assistance you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

 

I apologize. I thought I'd run it as administrator, but I didn't. I was able to run successfully this time.

I re-ran everything and was able to post it this time. I couldn't post yesterday because the internet went out again and wouldn't come back. I got it back this morning.

I appreciate your time and assistance!

 

When I ran MGTools, a log for hijack this was all that came up. I thought maybe the download didn't complete or somehow something went wrong. I deleted it, went back to the READ AND RUN ME FIRST thread, and tried to download it again. (I made sure to Run as Administrator and disabled the antivirus in case it might cause problems)

It came up with the CMD prompt and at the top it says C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\cmd.exe. It looks like it is trying to install, but comes up with this error:
C:\MGTools\ltime.exe is a 16-bit application. You do not have permissions to execute 16-bit applications. Check your permissions with your system administrator.

Then it goes back to the CMD prompt and says "The system cannot execute the specified program"

I'm also unable to save anything to the C drive. It says I don't have permission to save there.

How do I get it to run?

 

I was able to get into the Local Group Policy editor and disable the setting "Prevent access to 16-bit applications." MGTools is installing. This is what it gave me. Is this the log?

I still couldn't save to the C drive so I put it on the desktop.

 

It's really strange because the internet will randomly stop working. I can never really predict when it will happen. The last 2 times, it went out for hours on end, and wouldn't come back until late that night or the next morning.

I've removed Avast, SUPERAntispyware, and Privatefirewall. If those could be the problem, I won't reinstall them. I can switch to something else off the forum on How to Protect yourself from malware. I think I've used Avira antivirus and Comodo with success so I can try those.

Thank you for your help and for reviewing all my logs! I hope the internet keeps working now.

 

Hello!

I wasn't sure if I should post here or make a new one so I hope I picked the right option.

I wanted to follow up on the new weird things going on with my computer . The internet seemed to be much better, but a few days ago I started to have problems again. It started with me turning on my computer and getting to the desktop. All I got was a black screen with a row of white dots (like a bunch of periods) across the screen. I logged out, logged back in, and got my desktop icons to appear, but the background was the same - black with the white dots.

I went into personalize to check. It showed that the desktop image was still the same - the picture I had before. I switched images and that worked, giving me the image I switched to so I figured everything was ok. I ran SAS and Maleware Bytes just in case, but only came up with tracking cookies which I cleared out.

Now, starting tonight, the internet is acting weird on my desktop. My laptop (using wireless) is fine (I'm on it now). The desktop gives me an error like it can't find the internet. When I refreshed, it typically picked up my home page after 1-2 tries. Right now, I had to close all browsers to get the internet back, but it was only for a moment. I can't get online using my desktop at all now. It shows to be online, but it isn't giving me a webpage (I tried IE, Chrome, and Firefox).

Also, when I was online, it was only giving me certain images. For example, if I search images on BING, it only would show a few, the others had this X in the corner, but it was black (versus the red X I'm use to seeing). Same with Facebook - only some images appear, the others have a black X in the corner. Also, it kept logging me out of Facebook and Gmail randomly. Windows Media Player also closed itself 2-3 times this evening saying it had an error.I even tried opening WMP just now and it wouldn't open. It said some error occurred and closed. I just opened it once again and it seems to be working. I had an error with Word, too. I was saving a file (which it let me), but then it said it couldn't find the .tmp file. I should've written down the exact error, but I didn't.

Windows Media Player just errored out again. It says
"The library database is corrupted. The problem does not affect your digital media files or the ability of Windows Media Player to play the files. When you exit and restart the player, a new database will be created after which you can add your files to the library again. Click OK to exit the Player."

It's showed me this, now, about 5 times tonight. I exit and restart but get the same error. I've made no changes to the Player - didn't add any playlists or anything.

I'm trying to go through the READ & RUN ME FIRST. Will it let me if it doesn't detect internet? Also, if I'm unable to get online, how do I post the files?

Thank you!