OT: Strange connectivity problem

Had to call tech support last nigh when I suddenly became unable to connect
to any sites, so I thought I'd pass it along.

I was playing around with my setting in Trillian, an IM client, when
suddenly I got disconnected, and then nothing would connect.

So I did the usual of rebooting and going back to the last stable config in
Windoze XP, and looking at my TCP/IP setting and all that crap.

I kept telling myself that in no way is fooling with a setting in an IM
client going to munge your stack or your Windoze config, but you know how
it goes. ;-)

So I call tech support and he walks me through some things, tells me that
on his end it appears I'm connected (DSL modem) and soforth.

Then he asks me what's showing up in my toolbar and I tell him just a
firewall and my speaker icon.

Then he starts berating me for not running a virus checker. I tell him that
I've never ever had a virus and I stopped running Norton a couple years
ago. He's still irate about this, lol, but we move along (I do run a
spychecker now and then, rarely if ever have a problem - I do practice safe
computing, use Firefox and a firewall and soforth).

Anyway when nothing works, not even 'restoring' my connection via right
clicking on local area connection, he says, ok, go ahead and unplug your
DSL modem from the electrical outlet. I go 'huh?'.

So I unplug it and wait 45 seconds and plug it back in and voila,
everything now works. He says that sometimes people need to unplug and plug
back in. Never heard of anything like this. So, 'whew'. He tells me that if
it happens again they'll consider sending me a new DSL modem. I've had this
problem intermittently for a year or two, but it has always cleared up on
its own. Just thought I'd pass it along to the group in case others have
this intermittent problem. The first message you get is 'looking
up...site'. I had it a few days ago, nothing connecting, but it was bedtime
so I didn't get alarmed. When I woke up, the next day all was working fine.
Anyway, good to know what the intermittent problem was.

OTOH, I was a bit surprised at his concern for virus checkers. Like I said,
I've never had a virus or trojan that I'm aware, even in the days when I
did some hacking and cracking. My feeling is unless you're running with no
firewall and downloading questionable software the chance of getting a
virus is virtually non-existent. Just an opinion. Wondering what other PC
gurus on the ng think about this.

-B

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Strange connectivity problem
    ... client going to munge your stack or your Windoze config, ... Then he starts berating me for not running a virus checker. ... not even 'restoring' my connection via right ... good to know what the intermittent problem was. ...
    (rec.martial-arts)
  • Re: angry XP home user
    ... svchost or computers running slow. ... >have never found a virus with any of the recomended virus ... The trouble with the usual advice on malware is posters usually ... I don't think so - tech support is rarely a profit center, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain)
  • Re: Wireless connection problems caused by virus??
    ... I was just quoting my friend when he said he had "Windows own" anti virus - ... Wireless Connections" window, it reports that he is connected to his wireless ... signal strength + connection to network simultaneously. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)
  • kppp: pppd timed out (not starting)
    ... I use fedora here at work and I recently installed it at home, ... I don't have a broadband connection, I had to use my winmodem, which was ... deberá asegurarse de que esté realmente libre de virus. ... República Dominicana con su dirección en la Calle Victor Garrido Puello No. 23, ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: Buy a PC at Best Buy today and plug it in - how long till I get a virus?
    ... The OEMs may or may not enable the firewall. ... > Lets assume it has a virus scanner included from the manufacturer, ... > an internet connection and download the patches.... ...
    (microsoft.public.security.virus)
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