Weird little network problem

[deadlegion]

I was using a WD HDD at the time. Always have. It was about 4 months old at the time (iirc, was a while ago now), and had no issues. Two days after I switched to AVG Free, it started to run hot, and my computer in general slowed right down. Not long after it failed completely.

And sure, no AV is 100%.... but some are DEFINITELY worse than others, and the trend says: Avoid free AVs.

Well I can't advise you about paid stuff...and no discussion of warez is allowed.

[Lord Valarion]

It may be a firewall issue. Some all-in-one security suites can cause network issues, due to it's firewall environment that replaces the standard windows firewall.

I would check the applications part of the suite to make sure that no "internet-related" applications/processes are being blocked for example explorer

Also, I would poke arround the bitdefender app to see if there is some security level settings and probably modify it. It may be blocking your TCP port 80

http://www.bitdefender.com/support/i...ernet-865.html

[MaslowK]

Two days after I switched to AVG Free, it started to run hot, and my computer in general slowed right down. Not long after it failed completely.

It certainly sounds like a heck of a coincidence, but is a coincidence nonetheless. The only extra wear an AV (or malware itself for that matter) would put on your hard disk is by scanning your files in real-time mode (as you download them, etc), meaning extra reads/writes from the hard disk. It might be possible that it pushed your HDD over the edge, but that would have to be a pretty fine edge to be at in the first place.

Regardless, an informed computer user doesn't generally need an antivirus in the first place. I'd say a good 95% of the malware I've cleaned out of peoples computers has been related to "ooh the ad says I have 1000 viruses and need their software, lets download it!", and "lets just next through these installers, woah where did these toolbars come from?!?". I.e., it's mostly self inflicted, something an AV won't protect against if it allows the user to click "ignore" and install whatever they want anyway.

[HaloSlayer255]

I'm afraid I don't know what "Media Access Control", so unless I've used it under a difference name or it's a default system then I'd say no, I haven't.
hosts had a few lines of text explaining what the file was for. I don't think they were malicious, but i deleted it anyway. It was just English text, nothing machine related. Each line was preceeded by a #, but I left that in.
IPconfig reports my modem is present, and a wireless card (not in use) is present and used, which as far as I can tell it perfect. It also reports that "Tunnel adapter isatap.iiNet" and "Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface" are disconnected. I'm afraid networking isn't really my area of expertise, so I'm not sure what this is :\
I checked my proxy settings, it was set to "Use system proxy settings", I switched it to "No proxy" just to avoid any complications.
Also, I can not ping

The Media Access Control Address is an address assigned at the factory that developed the NIC (Ethernet, 802.11 wireless, bluetooth, 3G, etc) and uniquely identifies the interface. Typically the first half identifies the manufacturer, and the last identifies the network interface card in question. That hosts file is needed by the system. If you deleted it (or just the lines after the #s) then it needs to be recreated. Regardless the files must contain the statements the map the loopback hostname to 127.0.0.1 or ::1 to the loopback hostname.
Here is how it looked by default:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost

Sometimes people add other statements to block known malicious domains, or to block malicious advertisements. https://forums.malwarebytes.org/inde...howtopic=25599

Your Tunnel adapter isatap and Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseduo-Interface seem to be fine, those are ports that have something to do with Microsoft, IIRC. Your proxy settings seem fine so it can be set back to "Use system proxy settings". You mentioned you cannot ping, but did you try pinging 127.0.0.1 (loopback)? If that fails you would need to reinstall the TCP/IP stack in Windows. However, you mentioned that you can see other hosts on the network so this should be fine.

A free anti-malware tool I use is Malware Bytes Anti-Malware (The free version doesn't have scheduled scanning and you must run the scan yourself).

The only other thing I can think of ATM is something blocking the communication; we checked the Physical, Data Link, and Network layers of the OSI model. But I'd check the Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application layers. Transport is TCP or UDP and focuses on port numbers to allow or deny traffic. Session is two computers negotiating a connection between each other. Like a VPN. Presentation is how data is going to be formatted (encrypted, unencrypted, etc). And Application deals with configuration of an application such as Skype. Use UDP (recommended) or TCP for video calls and what port.

Good Luck,
HaloSlayer255

[ChalkTaster]

First check:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/w...cp-ip-settings

If you're not using DHCP, make sure the settings are correct and you're not using the IP address of some other hardware on your network. Set the nameserver to 8.8.8.8 or one you know exists.

If that doesn't work, try running:

tracert 8.8.8.8

in a command prompt.

And see where your connection is dying.

[Likeacupcake]

I just got word back from B Turns out it's a known issue, they have a patch and are working at intergrating it into the main program (personally I think something sounds a little strange with that statement, but that's what I've been told).

Thanks Haloslayer for explaining all of that! Very interesting and informative.
And MaslowK; close enough. 99% of the stuff out there is pretty hard to get if you know how to spot it (P.I.C.N.I.C.) but... that 1% is generally made by someone that wants to hurt the people that know how to avoid the other 99%. So, well... yah :\ I'm rather safe than sorry.