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November 13th, 2003 18:00
lost internet connection
A friend with a new Dimension (Windows XP Home Edition) has been successfully using Earthlink software to access the Internet and her email. She is also using the 1-year trial of McAfee that came with her computer (she had only the firewall and virus scan installed). Sometime in the last few days she had some kind of interaction with McAfee that she doesn't recall well, now the Privacy Service seems to want to activate but gives her a "component missing" message and tells her to reinstall it, and in the Dell Security Center it says it's installed and activated. When we click the link to deactivate it, it keeps being activated when we look at it again later. We would uninstall and (maybe) reinstall McAfee, but she has no McAfee software, probably since it was a trial. (We found a restore cd that says it contains virus software, but when we put it in the drive it looked as if our only choice was to run it without having a clear idea of what it would do, so we aren't doing that without more information.)
This would not be much of a problem except that at about the same time (which is why I mentioned all that stuff above), she lost Internet contact. She runs her Earthlink dialer and it makes all the appropriate little phone sounds and then says she's connected. Then runs Internet Explorer and gets "cannot display page" onscreen, but the top window bar says "cannot find server." We tried to telnet to my email and got a message that said it detected a dead network. We ran troubleshooters that indicate the modem is OK, but the networking troubleshooter said it "cannot ping your default gateway." We've tried web pages other than the homepage she had, since she recalls one time doing that and going on and getting access to Internet and her mail, but that doesn't seem to work now. We have checked to see that her Windows firewall is turned off, and we have disabled the McAfee firewall, to no avail.
I can try to get any additional needed information from her about her system and post it if that will help, but she cannot, as you see, do any posting herself. She's very distressed about loss of email.
M.Koch
This would not be much of a problem except that at about the same time (which is why I mentioned all that stuff above), she lost Internet contact. She runs her Earthlink dialer and it makes all the appropriate little phone sounds and then says she's connected. Then runs Internet Explorer and gets "cannot display page" onscreen, but the top window bar says "cannot find server." We tried to telnet to my email and got a message that said it detected a dead network. We ran troubleshooters that indicate the modem is OK, but the networking troubleshooter said it "cannot ping your default gateway." We've tried web pages other than the homepage she had, since she recalls one time doing that and going on and getting access to Internet and her mail, but that doesn't seem to work now. We have checked to see that her Windows firewall is turned off, and we have disabled the McAfee firewall, to no avail.
I can try to get any additional needed information from her about her system and post it if that will help, but she cannot, as you see, do any posting herself. She's very distressed about loss of email.
M.Koch
Message Edited by mekoch on 11-13-2003 03:14 PM
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DELL-Cody
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November 14th, 2003 14:00
This will make troubleshooting somewhat difficult. Run the System Restore feature, and see if a restore point is available a significant amount of time before this interaction took place. Once the system is restored, are you able to access web pages again?
Although the McAfee software installed at the factory is a trial version, I would recommend uninstalling that software should the above step not work. In the vast majority of cases, a firewall on a dialup connection is not necessary, although antivirus software is generally recommended.
If you would like to continue using the McAfee software, you can either purchase it directly from McAfee or via a local computer/electronics retailer.
mekoch
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November 14th, 2003 16:00
Since the McAfee software probably would have run successfully as originally installed and would have offered her the agreed-upon deal Dell sold her, which did include a year of its use, it does seem unfair, approaching unethical, that she has simply lost that part of the Dell package she bought (my complaint, not hers). Surely there is some way Dell and McAfee could provide a way for a person in this situation to reinstall the trial software. In my friend's case, she fortunately already had a copy of Norton, and has installed it, but not everyone would have been able to do that.
M. Koch