internet trouble

hi my problem is, that I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop. That will not let me get on the Internet, I think that it has a virus. It had Norton in it when I got it the version of Norton had expired. What can I do to get on the internet so I can unstall Norton. and add my own product. Please help!!!!:cry

 

If you think it's a virus, you should definitely follow TimW's advice and use the info in the link he posted. Additionally, you do not need internet access to remove Norton. You can go to Add/Remove Programs in WinXP, or Programs in Vista/Win7. The SymNRT tool linked to above works great too.

Some of the newer malware infections disable your internet simply by telling Windows to use a non-existant proxy server to connect. Go to the Control Panel, then to Internet Properties. Click the Connections tab, then click the LAN Settings button (see 1st screen shot attached below). All the boxes in the LAN Settings window should be unchecked, especially the bottom two boxes (see 2nd screen shot below). If the bottom two boxes are checked, uncheck the bottom box first, then uncheck the box above it. If the top box is checked for "Automatically detect settings", you can leave it checked if you want, but it won't help anything, and it actually can cause Internet Explorer to open your home page quite a bit slower. Having the top box unchecked will NOT prevent internet access. Click OK to exit once you've made the changes.