Computer Trouble - Help Needed

This one has me stumped. It began a couple weeks ago. My computer works fine for all intents and purposes. I can boot it up, use all the apps, get email, surf the web, play internet games, use Vent, all without issue. The problem comes when I attempt to download anything or stream video online. The downloads either never start or hang shortly after starting. The same goes for video, the videos will start, but then hang.

I've done some troubleshooting: I immediately figured zonealarm, so I shut it down and the problem persists. Then I thought it was my wireless router, so I unhooked it and put in a direct connection to the internet, still the same problem. I tried virus and spyware hunting, system is clean. I've tried cleaning up my hard drive, tweaking my system and its settings, but nothing has helped.

Any help/insight would be GREATLY appreciated!

What type of internet connection do you have? Do you have a firewall on? Do you have a anti-virus running constantly? Do you have the latest flash player (flash player 9)? Is it just flash or divx as well (not sure, google divx player, download, install, go to tv-links.co.uk and find some divx videos and check). How about downloading big files, what speed is average?

Just some more trouble shooting questions really. Not sure what it could be.

OMG.

Orpheus without access to streaming web "videos".... did you wife install some kind of porn blocker on you?

Clear your cache.

Do you use IE for browsing? There is a setting in Internet Options to disable downloading. Check for this options Under the Security tab >> Advanced Options. i can't think of anything else at the moment.

Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite 7 sucks major ass!

I spent hours shutting down running processes one at a time.. finally decided to try zone alarm again. This time, BINGO!

I uninstalled it and installed Kapersky Internet Security instead. Seems to have fixed the problem.

Thanks for the help!

Try Prevx, it is a good suite, uses less memory than most others, is more proactive and the free trial is cool. You get to use it (full version) free until it saves your system, then it starts the 30 day count down,,, after that it's $16 a year

If you are using an Nvidia Mother Board don't install the Nvidia fire wall if you do any gaming or streaming

Orpheus said:

Zone Alarm Internet Security Suite 7 sucks major ass!

I spent hours shutting down running processes one at a time.. finally decided to try zone alarm again. This time, BINGO!

I uninstalled it and installed Kapersky Internet Security instead. Seems to have fixed the problem.

Thanks for the help!

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Figured it out before I could chime in, but I had the same problem. ZA has some awesome features, but its downfalls are terrible in today's Web 2.0 world.

If anyone else has this problem, reboot while holding F8, then select to boot with networking. Open your internet program and see if you can view the videos. If you can, one by one run the programs you normally boot on start, like your virus scanner. and try to view a video between each program run.

Alternately, if you're on a work computer and afraid of getting caught looking at Netporn, do the F8 boot and you'll be off the grid. This also works if your company blocks HBT. The reason it works is because your computer is not installing the blockers that you work installs, and it's not running any programs that logs such activity. Just delete your temp files and for god's sake, don't keep that "Beastiality - Incest - Scat - Menstrual Porn" folder in your "My Documents".

I didn't see this thread either until now. Took a week off the forums while we house-sat for the in-laws, had 500+ threads with new posts upon return... too much!

Cheesefood said:

If anyone else has this problem, reboot while holding F8, then select to boot with networking...

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For clarity, this is called "Safe Mode with Networking". Obviously networking is included in Run Windows Normally.

...do the F8 boot and you'll be off the grid. This also works if your company blocks HBT. The reason it works is because your computer is not installing the blockers that you work installs, and it's not running any programs that logs such activity...

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It may or may not get around blockers. It sounds like your company uses client-side blocking, then yes that would do the trick. But if there is a proxy server or other perimeter web content filtering, there's nothing you can change on your computer to bypass the filtering. You could use an anonymizer service like http://www.anonymouse.org or create an SSH tunnel to an outside PC and funnel all your web traffic through it, but the latest web filtering technology can filter even these methods. It all depends on what systems your place of work has deployed.

Thalon said:

For clarity, this is called "Safe Mode with Networking". Obviously networking is included in Run Windows Normally.

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Thanks. I couldn't remember the exact phrase.

Thalon said:

It may or may not get around blockers. It sounds like your company uses client-side blocking, then yes that would do the trick. But if there is a proxy server or other perimeter web content filtering, there's nothing you can change on your computer to bypass the filtering.

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Well, you can buy a large capacity thumb-drive and install Unix on it, the when booting you can change your CMOS to boot from the thumb-drive. Since it's not loading Windows, it won't load the blockers.

Not saying that this is a suggested - or easy method, just saying that there is something that can be done to circumvent.

Cheesefood said:

Well, you can buy a large capacity thumb-drive and install Unix on it, the when booting you can change your CMOS to boot from the thumb-drive. Since it's not loading Windows, it won't load the blockers.

Not saying that this is a suggested - or easy method, just saying that there is something that can be done to circumvent.

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You are correct that if it is client-side software that performs the filtering, that would definitely get around it. What I'm saying is maybe the filtering isn't done at the source computer, but a filtering computer in between the source and destination. Think of it like an airport security checkpoint. It doesn't matter where your pocketknife came from or how it was created, it simply won't get past that checkpoint. That's what a proxy server does for network packets traveling from the corporate network to the internet. No matter what operating system or web browser created the banned packet, it won't get past the filter. Hope that helps explain it better.