drga,

First thing to do is try downloading Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, update it and do a quick scan. Report back if it finds anything.

Rick 

sounds like someone is messing with you in your house :) have  you checked your router firewall settings? have you tried connecting directly into your modem and see if things will work?

Rick,

In my previous reply I said that MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware wouldn't run without updating but it turns out I accidentally installed the wrong thing (PC Doctor Antispyware had a big "download" button on the same web page and I hit that by accident).  Anyway, I've now downloaded and installed the right thing and it also had a problem when I tried to update, but it did let me run a Quick scan without updating - it didn't find any problems.

My computer is a Dell inspiron 1526, model # PP29L running Vista Home Premium with SP1. I've never reinstalled the system.

It seems like the problem always occurs when a program tries to download something (music downloaders don't work, game fails at the point when it tries to update itself , the two spyware/malware programs I just downloaded won't run updates) as if there is a firewall blocking them, but I have turned Windows Firewall and Symantec anti-virus off.  Is it possible that they aren't really all-the-way off?  Also, I used to have Symantec Firewall but I uninstalled it a while ago - is it possible that it's still there somehow?

Thanks for your help,

drga

Hello,

Do you have any firewall or security software running?

Rick,

Well, I downloaded it but when I tried to update it, it came back with "Update Failed. Error downloading  the list of updates. Please try again later." - this is very similar to the errors described in my original post.  It won't let me run it without updating first.  Is there a way to manually get the updates?

Thanks

drga

drga,

What operating system do you have?

Did you do anything like reinstall the system, by chance?

What is the make and model of your computer?

Rick

drga,

Di this when the computer has some free time.

First thing to try is...

Start, all programs, accessories. Right click on the command prompt, left click run as administrator. Type

chkdsk /r          (space between the k and /)

Hit enter. Answer with a Y.

Restart your computer and Windows will look for errors and correct them. Let it run until you see the Welcome screen.

Second thing to try if the first does not work...

Insert the Windows Vista Operating system disk and stop it from running.

Start, all programs, accessories. Right click on the command prompt, left click run as administrator. Type

sfc /scannow          (space between the c and /)

Hit enter and it will check to make sure all the windows componets are ther in their origional form. Will replace if needed.

Rick

Just in case the old Symantec firewall is causing this you can download the uninstall utility from Symantec here.

And the question about you having a router is good. Do you have a router?

I tried [chkdsk /r] and [sfc / scannow] and neither found any problems. 

Also tried hardwiring directly to the modem (via Ethernet) - no improvement

Also tried moving computer to a different house with a different ISP - no improvement

drga