Issues with browser

All right, first off hello. Now thats out the way, I'm currently having an issue and I need serious help. Today I was running Avast so I could update it and see if my computer is in decent shape. At the time, everything was running perfectly. Avast picks up infected files in the memory and tells me I need to reset my system so it can do a scan at system boot. I let it do so, it runs its scan, and it picks up 3 infected files and I move them to "the chest". My system then boots normally, but I lose all activity with my browsers. Basically ipconfig states I have a valid IP address, I can ping sites with no problem, and I am showing that I can send and recieve packets, but my browsers act like I'm not even connected, like the packet information isn't being regulated into the browser itself. I've tried a plethora of ideas, I've checked event viewer that yielded little help. If anyone knows of a way to possibly rectify this problem, or has an idea, let me know. If this is an unsovlable then I will reformat this sucker.

 

Sounds more like a firewall issue, perhaps shutting it down. How about removing/shutting down Avast. Try a different browser like FireFox or Opera.

 

If ZaZ's suggestion doesn't work, I think I'd try re-installing the win-sockets. Here's how to do it:

Start > Run > Regedit
File > Export (ALWAYS backup your registry before editing it)
Navigate to: HKLM > System > Current Control Set > Services
Delete winsock and winsock2 from here and exit the registry editor
Now navigate to Network Connections
Right click on your ethernet adapter and select Properties
From the list select Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Install
Select Protocol and click Add
Click Have Disk and enter 'C:\WINDOWS\INF\' as the location
At the next screen, if there are options for manufacturer, select Microsoft and then select Internet Protocol (Note: do NOT select IPv6)
Reboot your computer and see if you can pull an IP

 

Dragonnesse, next time you go to Chihuahah, ask for a man named, "Mr. Big". Then you will be given a map from Mr. Big, that shows the entrance to a secrete digging. There, once you dig 6 feet into the ground you will happen apon all of Atari's copies of "ET". You may take as many as you want, thats my reward for you. The ideas Zaz had presented, I had already attempted, minus uninstalling AVAST which I will probably need to get something back in its place. I took a look the other day at the antivirus poll and it looks like AVG seems good, considering it had the most votes. I still have one minor issue, my system seems to hang whenever windows boots up, it didn't do this when I disabled all services in MSCONFIG, so I'm going to assume something has done something to my system that I have yet find, or it could just be adware crap, whatever the case, I'm currently getting spybot.