HELP...internet connection problems, something about DNS (???). Need to get some business stuff done tonight!

[LackaDAISYcal]

I downloaded some upgrades on Monday for Norton and...erm...something else on automatic updates.

since then my internet connection has been intermittent. i have checked all the leads in and out of the modem and our wireless router, and although it all looks fine and the pooter says i am currently connected, I keep getting the "internet explorer cannot connect to the internet" screen......but not all the time and not on all sites, like I am obviously connecting to MN just fine, but it has trouble with facebook, virginmedia and yahoo, amongst others i've looked at today.

I've tried the diagnose problem thing and it throws up the following:

"windows cannot find the hostname using DNS"
"the domain name server may be down"

I have no idea what this means. Is this a problem with my ISP? or the individual website's servers? and what can i do to fix it

I'm trying to put a book order through with usbourne this evening and I get to the organiser homepage (password protected), but it won't connect to the next page (also password protected using the same password)

Also all the ads on here have the "cannot connect to the internet page" as did the virgin logo at the top of my mail page yesterday, but I could still navigate around my inbox. I'm assuming something that norton has added something that has upset things somehow

anyone?

TIA

Can you run a Norton scan?
Can you restart the pooter? (Not in that order)

thanks goober (great name...i loved the fraggles)
it did a scan after installing the update and it has been shut down and restarted two or three times since then.

I doubt if it's Morton, but you never know.

DNS = Domain Name Service. It rtranslates names in text to numeric addresses, e.g. www.facebook.com. translates to 69.63.176.140

These things can be a bit hard to diagnose. I'd try changing your DNS servers from your ISP's servers to the openDNS servers.

Instructions at www.opendns.com/start. If that doesn't work you can use 208.67.219.101/start, but you'll probably get a security warning.

thanks ED . I'll give that a try tomorrow. It seems to be a little bit better now and all my adverts etc are back. there is no rhyme or reason to it; a connection that fails one minute is fine the next. weird.

Well Done ED

all seems tip top and Bristol fashion after doing that.

thanks very much

Have you tried repairing the wireless connection?

I need to do this occasionally, I think it clears the cache and restores your DNS.

(Or summat)

wireless connection diagnostic said it was working just fine. Can I do a repair if there is nothing wrong?

EDs advice sorted me out though; everything seems to be working just fine today.