[IAPC]

... where X = any program attempting to access the Internet.

Last week my computers were shut down for three days while I was out of town. When I started them up again upon my return, my office system (running Vista Business) was unable to access Internet. Any program's attempt to access the Internet immediately prompts the message, "Internet Explorer [or Firefox or Thunderbird or ePrompter or whatever] Has Stopped Working", and the program aborts. After various attempts to find a solution I ended up using System Restore to roll back a few days, after which all was normal. The other systems, running XP Pro, were fine.

Exactly the same thing occurred a couple months earlier. I "solved" the problem in the same way at that time. (I use the term 'solved' loosely, because I do not consider running System Restore a solution to the problem).

I'm sort of suspecting this may be an OS update gone wrong, but I'm not sure of that. Anyone know the real solution to this problem?

Thanks!

[IAPC]

This time, right on the heels of Tuesday's OS update.

Same thing as on earlier occasions. First thing that came up after the obligatory reboot following the update was a message saying "Windows Media Player Has Stopped Working". Thereafter, anything and everything that attempted to access the Internet "Has Stopped Working". I was totally unable to access either the Internet or other systems on my network.

As on earlier occasions when this has occurred, I rolled back to the restore point before the OS update. Everything was A-OK.

I then re-installed the OS update. This time, no problem.

Anyone have similar problems with updates? This has only occurred with my Vista Business system. My XP systems have experienced no similar problems.

[RedNode]

Can you ping any terminals?

[IAPC]

Will have to try that next time the problem occurs.

[IAPC]

Exactly the same thing as on earlier occasions. I was greeted this morning with "Windows Media Player [... and anything else attempting to access the Internet ...] Has Stopped Working". So I checked and, sure enough, Windows had performed an update at 12:53 this morning. Again I Rolled back to the restore point before the update, and Internet access was restored.

Am I the only one encountering this? Any ideas as to what's causing it?

[IAPC]

It's back ... and it's meaner and bader than ever.

OK ... to update (and recap for any latecomers), here's what has become the semi-regular ritual with my Vista64 system (this problem does not occur with any of my XP systems):

Following a Windows Update (such as the 4/09 update) any program attempting to access the Internet results in "X has stopped working. A problem has caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available." I can access other computers on my network, just not the Internet. 'X' is not one particular program, it is any and all programs that attempt to access the Internet.

So I simply roll back to a restore point prior to the update, re-install the update, and all is well. It's a hassel, but ... well, it's what works. This does not happen with every Windows Update, but it happens regularly enough for this procedure to now seem routine. OK, that's the recap.

Now the update. This time, following the 4/09 update, System Restore doesn't. After shutting down, initializing SR, and restarting, message comes up: "System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed. Details: An unspecified error occurred during System Restore." I tried half a dozed different restore points, all with the same result.

I've tried the usual remedies for this problem, namely running SR from Safe Mode (I tried each flavor of SM), and from command prompt using the Setup DVD. Same result. I can create restore points after the 4/09 update, and SR will restore successfully to those. But it will not restore to a point prior to the update.

In case anyone is wondering, no Symantec products are installed on this system, and I've tried turning UAC on/off (both of which have been suggested as possible causes of this problem).

Next, I set about uninstalling all of the updates installed on 4/09, and guess what: All uninstalled successfully ... except for one. KB938371 could not be uninstalled (the uninstall option is not available on that update). Hmmmm ... so, is that the culprit? Is that why SR cannot restore to points prior to 4/09?

Oh, and one other thing that's new ... (I just LOVE new things, don't you?). I have a few times received a WerFault.exe Application Error message when Windows boots up: "The exception unknown software exception (0x0000005) occurred in the application at location [varies]".

Any suggestions before I resort to a total OS reinstall?

[IAPC]

It appears that Update 938371 is intended to be non-removable.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938371
... which apparently accounts for SR not being able to restore to any point prior to 4/09.

So now the question is, what is causing any program that attempts to access the Internet to stop working, and how do I rectify the problem.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[DaveA]

Make a NEW user account with Admin permissions. Log out of the old one, then log in to the new one. Do NOT switch users.
Now, try accessing the internet?

[IAPC]

Thanks, Dave
Created new user account and did as suggested. Results are the same. "IE has stopped working".

In addition, WLLoginProxy.exe generated an application error. "The exception unknown software exception (0x0000005) occurred in the application at location 0x028200c4"

Addendum: I should add by way of clarification, that Windows Update CAN access the Internet. However apps such as IE, Firefox, Thunderbird, ePrompter, etc. crash when attempting to do so. Should also add that I reinstalled all of the 4/09 updates and installed SP-1 yesterday. This seemed to have no effect on the problem.

[DaveA]

Have you checked your firewall to see if these programs are blocked from accessing the internet?

What AV and FireWall programs are you using?

[IAPC]

Problem is (finally!) solved

The needed clue came when I re-enabled NOD32 and it attempted to update. The error message was "Failure to open socket". When I Googled that message, I found a post suggesting the following fix within NOD32:
IMON >
IMON Setup >
Miscellaneous Tab >
In "Network configuration changes" click "repair now"

That did it. Full Internet access has been restored. No more crashes.
Thanks to all for your responses.