this computer im working on is infected with some pretty deep in the registry ( i believe ).

its on a dhcp network and is pulling a valid IP number, but when you start anything web based (norton update, IE, Netscape or mail clients) you get, could not connect to: . you can ping the computers IP number, and can ping other computers.

i have run spybot, spyware doctor, adaware, but they are all coming up clean.

when i run IE explorer, i get in the address bar about.blank

anyone have any clues?

are you able to ping outside the LAN? for example, can you successfully ping google.com
?

yup, its perfectly fine in every aspect except being able to actually browse the internet/get emails

i did a google search for about.blank, and it pointed me to cw shredder, but i ran that it and it came back clean, im afraid this user downloaded something major and didnt know it, and theres no way i want to copy over her documents and emails without knowing what it is that infected/caused this problem

Hmm.....I've not had this problem before. Here is something to test.
Try pinging a machine again and use the -t switch (keeps the ping going). Then open the browser and try to browse. See if the ping stops. If it does there could be a problem with the 32bit portion of the TCP/IP stack. And you might need to reinstall TCP/IP.

tried it and the ping kept on going


i think im going to chance copying over her files and transfereing them back to her new gx270

It really sounds more and more like a firewall issue. Like a port is being blocked somewhere. The files are probably safe. I would just do a scan on them on the new machine before they are opened.

win 98, no firewall

its a worm or something im sure of

It certainly could be a worm. It's just odd it's not being detected.

What happens when you change your homepage from About:Blank to http://www.google.com? Does the setting hold or does it revert back to about:blank?