Weird internet problem

WinXP Home SP3 - I have a laptop here that connects to the web just fine, I can surf, I can download, and all is well. The problem is that NO programs can update. Avira antivirus, MalwareBytes (full paid version), Adobe Flash Player, etc... any programs that use the internet to update all say "error downloading updates" or "check your internet connection". I have reset Winsock, I have reset TCP/IP, malware scans found some minor "Gamevance" related crapola, but nothing serious. There's no 3rd party firewall or AV/AS software other than Avira and MBAM, and even with the Windows firewall turned off, no programs update online. I have checked everything in the Internet tools menus, and I can't find any reason for this.... any ideas? thoughts? suggestions?

 

Good question... I should have tried that, but now things have gotten a bit worse :cry I noticed that IE was v7, so I installed IE8 which went smoothly and was unevenful, I rebooted as directed, but now I can't surf at all!! "Page cannot be displayed". I can run ipconfig /release and renew, but when I try to ping, I get "PING: transmit failed error code 65". Also, if I go to Control Panel > Network Connections it shows an "Internet Gateway" listed; if I unplug the ethernet cable, it disappears, but re-appears when I plug the cable back in. I tried to disable the gateway, but I'm told that the "connection is busy with a connect or disconnect operation". GEEZ!!!!
:banghead

 

OK - I booted to Safe Mode w/ Networking, and I can surf normally, and I can update normally.... :confused Now I'm even more mixed up (if that's even possible LOL ). I'm not a fan of System Restore, but I may have to try it if nothing else pans out....

 

Problem solved!! :dood :celebrate

Turns out that there was a remnant from ZoneAlarm still loading as a system service... I ran HiJackThis and down at the bottom of the list was a single item listed as being from ZoneLabs: it was the "True Vector Internet Monitor". So ran the ol' services.msc and sure enough, there it was! I stopped the service and changed the startup status to "disabled". As soon as the service was stopped, I could surf again! Then I checked MBAM to see if would update, and it did. It's just weird that ZoneAlarm is no place else on this PC (at least that I can find). It's not in Add/Remove Programs, it's not in the msconfig startup list, weird.... but it's fixed!!! Now I'll just delete system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe and call it a day!

Thanks for your input Tim!