Windows not recognizing that I have an internet connection?

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I'm hoping someone can help me because I'm not sure where to start and need this fixed so I can get my work done. 

 

I have a Inspiron 1525 running Windows Vista which has a Dell Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card, and I am using a linksys wireless connection.

When trying to access the internet in any way in windows, I am unable to do so and receive the error messages show below. (Although, I do have an internet connection which I can get to by going to internet explorer or the firefox browser.) 

 

The problems:

 

When clicking a link in an e-mail I get an error that says:

“Windows cannot find [ url here ].  Make sure you typed the name correctly and then try again.”

 

When trying to open Norton internet security from the start menu, I get this error:

“Unable to open this Norton product.  Please restart your computer.”

(restarting the computer does not solve the problem).

 

When a software program tries to connect to the internet I get this error:

“Sorry, you need to connect to the internet”

 

When trying to print to a wireless printer I get an error message stating that the printer is unavailable (although, it does show it’s turned on and “online”)

 

When trying to install/add a new printer I get the error:

“Windows cannot connect to the printer.  The server print spooler service is not running.  Please restart the spooler on the server or restart the server machine.”

(restarting the spooler and/or the server machine did not work.)

 

I am also unable to access any shared folder on the network. (they do not appear on the laptop anywhere).

 

I have restarted the computer which did not work, and I ran Windows network diagnostics and got the message that 

 “windows did not find any problems with your internet connection”

 

 

 

Can anyone help me please?