BleepingComputer.com: Can't Cannot To The Internet

I had a ton of viruses, and my thread in HJT has resolved them. Even though the viruses were cleaned up, accessing the internet with a normal boot would take minutes, or never complete. However, when I boot in safemode, I can access the internet instantly. As part of the cleanup and testing I installed Firefox to see if the problem was with IE. Firefox hung also, so I de-installed it. Now, when I boot normally and open a browser (IE), it doesn't connect to anything. says can't access site. I have 100mb dsl. However, when I boot in safe mode, it works and I can get out into the internet with no problem. Therefore, I suspect it's a virus, or some setting(s) that got changed and I don't know what it is. Please help!!

Scan PC with SuperAntiSpyware ... Use the Free home user version. Quarantine anything it finds.
Install ,update and scan in Safe Mode,
Next
You probably need to run winsock fix as many times malware repairs corrupt this in cleaning. What Operating system are you using ,so you get the right version.

This post has been edited by boopme: 20 July 2007 - 08:26 PM

I've run anti-spyware...it comes up clean (as does about 10 others I've run). I have XP SR2.

take a look at the winsock test and repair here
Manual steps to determine whether the Winsock2 key is corrupted
To determine if the symptoms are caused by a problem with the Winsock2 key, use one of the following methods.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259

Think I figured it out...2 parts: 1) I had auto updates on from Microsoft, after alot of research, it appears that there's a bug which causes explorer to use 100% of CPU. I turned off auto updates and all came back fine,
2) Looks like it was windows firewall that was blocking me from getting out. It's not running in safe mode, that's why I could get out then.
However, I can't turn off the windows firewall. It's greyed out. I've searched the web but find nothing on how to do it...the firwall is not listed in the services, and running MMC doesn't see it either. How do I turn the darn thing off?
I have Comodo in...it sees the MS firewall but tells me to turn it off, it doesn't.

You could try uninstalling Comodo just until you have completed the winsock test and repair.

This other option involves modifying the Registry, so be sure to back it up and know how to restore it should a problem occur.

MSFN Forum - XP Firewall Won't Enable.

How to Backup, Edit and Restore the Registry.