Windows Firewall Blocking EVERYTHING....

Hello, I am new to the forums and in desperate need of a solution.

For the last week and a half all of the new programs that I have installed can not connect to the internet!

Moreover, programs that I updated, (like Firefox, and Opera) also can not get through. (The previous versions then also failed to get through, after I reinstalled them)

I am using Vista, and its up to date.

I have tried using Windows Firewall and Windows Firewall with Advanced Settings, but to no avail.

I have tried both checking/unchecking the boxes for the programs I want to let through, and Manually added exceptions to make sure it was refering to the correct version.

Help would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

 

Have you tried simply disabling the firewall? It's pretty easy to do. A simple how-to can be found here. If you still have internet connectivity issues, then we know it wasn't the firewall. If disabling the firewall lets everything connect normally, let us know and we'll do what we can to fix it.

 

When I turn my firewall off, nothing appears to have changed. I also tried rebooting. furthermore I could not connect in safe mode w/ networking with the FW off, however IE (almost the only program that still works) could.

It is not the fault of my router's firewall either, as I can't get programs to connect with the firewall on or off at any network.

I do not have any other firewall on my computer anymore. I used to have a Symantic Firewall until about a month ago. And around two weeks after I uninstalled Nortan (Those resubscribe messages got too annoying) I started noticing problems.

I also tried to system restore to a date before I was experiencing problems, but that was no use either.

Thanks so far, and if you have any other questions please ask.