HTTP browsing fails after Windows updates from October 23

  • Thread starter Thread starter MFillmore
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MFillmore

Windows XP Pro PC with only Windows firewall (no Norton, Zonealarm, etc.).
After the Windows updates of October 23, the PC will no longer access HTTP
sites (server not found) but will access HTTPS and FTP. POP3 email also
works. It is only HTTP browsing in both IE6 (I tried IE7 also) and Firefox 3.
Using the network connection diagnosis tool in IE I can see a log which
clearly shows that HTTPS & FTP are OK but HTTP is not but does explain how to
correct the problem.

Some pings will work; some (such as Microsoft.com & Hotmail.com) will fail.

I have run the hotfix (for browsing problems after SP3 install), uninstalled
the updates (including SP3), run the TCPIP reset to fix winsock and adjusted
the MTU setting. I have allowed port 80 (and 8080 just in case) as exceptions
in Windows firewall and even tried disabling it but nothing works. The router
has been reset too although the other four computers connected to it and
sharing the Internet connection work just fine. There are no entries (beyond
the localhost) in the hosts file and the PC has been swept for virus &
spyware.

System restore is useless as it only shows restore points back to October
24, i.e. after the problem occurred.

Clearly something the Windows registry is blocking the HTTP port (while
permitting HTTPS & FTP). I cannot see doing an OS repair (using the Windows
CD) would help as that really just restores files and the problem lies in the
registry. Short of a format and reinstall, does anybody know of a method to
discover and modify the status of the HTTP port or know of what might be
blocking it?
 
Having tried everything including a reinstall of TCPIP, I have thrown in the
towel and begun a complete reinstall of Windows. Thanks, Microsoft for those
wonderful Windows updates!
 
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