[Spinedriver]

For some insane reason, BOTH my IE and Firefox browsers are (I wouldn't say randomly but there doesn't seem to be much sense in it) refusing to connect to certain sites. For instance, I can connect to my bank's website, this one (obviously), and many others. Whereas at the same time, if I try to connect to ANY Microsoft affiliated sites (MSN, Hotmail, Updates, etc..) Myspace, or any Apple sites (iTunes, trailers, Quicktime, etc..) the browser times out.

I've tried de-activating the Windows firewall, any and all spy/ad blockers and whatever else I could think of that might prevent the browsers from connecting to a site, but they still won't connect. I'm running Windows Vista (first time using it), so could it be that I need to connect via a different port ? If so does anyone know how to change it ? I've tried looking up answers to the 'not being able to connect to various sites' question but ironically a lot of the responses are on Microsoft's forums.

thanx for any help lads.

[asmegin_slayer]

Tried calling your ISP?

[Spinedriver]

UPDATE...........

I've since formatted the hard drive and installed XP. There was a brief issue of my modem not recognizing the ethernet connection on the motherboard, but I just salvaged the card out of an old pc I have and now everything is running fine. My guess is that it had something to do with the security settings on Vista , but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what the hell it was, so I just said 'screw it' and went back to XP. It doesn't bother me in the least that XP isn't as 'pretty' as Vista.