Weird downloading problem

[Calantus]

I need help again.

I have this weird problem where I cannot download from Microsoft on my PC. This is for just about any download, from utilities to updated definitions, if it's from a microsoft site I cannot download it. Every download link gives me an error page (cannot find) and every program that needs to update through microsoft tells me it failed to download the update. This only happens on my PC and only with microsoft, my laptop can download things fine on the same network and my PC can download things from other sites and can view the actual pages on the microsoft site. The PC is running vista ultimate and either the problem has been occuring since I first got the computer set up or shortly after. Any ideas?

[schild]

That's a pretty kickass sounding Virus. Saves you from yourself. See if the following process is running: "Irony.exe"

[Trippy]

Have you tried another browser?

Have you checked your firewall/security settings?

What's the URL of a download link that's not working?

Have you tried doing an "nslookup" on the domain in the above link?

Have you looked at your hosts file to see if it's been infected by malware?

[Calantus]

Zzzzzzz...

I thought I disabled windows firewall as usual (because my router has its own firewall), but evidently I had forgotten to. Why windows firewall would block microsoft.com I do not know but disabling it fixed the problem.

Thanks again Trippy.

Delete/Den to save my pride please.

[Xerapis]

Personally, I think we should sticky it instead of denning it.   

[Merusk]

My wife's computer has this problem as well and I finally tracked it down. (Hers is an XP machine.)   Her kernel file is corrupted and MS's software doesn't recognize it as a valid install because of it.  Everything else runs fine, we just can't do any Windows updates to it.  I haven't tried reinstalling the OS yet to see if that fixes it, as I  have this bad feeling that I won't be able to validate the install after that.  I seem to remember there was some problem a few years ago about Manufacturer installs of the OS.

[Lantyssa]

I thought I disabled windows firewall as usual (because my router has its own firewall), but evidently I had forgotten to. Why windows firewall would block microsoft.com I do not know but disabling it fixed the problem.

If you have any other machines on the network, even visiting friends, I wouldn't disable the firewall.  If one gets infected then you just got them all infected.  Just add an exception to microsoft.com to the firewall.

[MuffinMan]

Hey hey a thread to piggy back off of. About a month ago, I started getting eror messages when trying to get new Windows updates. The updates download fine but at the end I've been getting this as the reason they cannot be installed..

"Problem: A problem on your computer is preventing updates from being downloaded or installed
Solution: To fix the problem, try installing the updates again. If that doesn't work, use the Troubleshooter to try solve the problem."

Do you get this same error message Merusk on your wife's PC?

[MahrinSkel]

Anything going wrong with your Windows Update is generally a sign that you've gotten infected with one of the more sophisticated bits of malware.  A Windows Update problem that clears magically when you disable your firewall?  That is suspicious as hell.

--Dave

[Engels]

A Windows Update problem that clears magically when you disable your firewall?  That is suspicious as hell.

--Dave

Agreed. Window Firewall would have to be specifically configured to block Automatic Updates.

[Trippy]

Hey hey a thread to piggy back off of. About a month ago, I started getting eror messages when trying to get new Windows updates. The updates download fine but at the end I've been getting this as the reason they cannot be installed..

"Problem: A problem on your computer is preventing updates from being downloaded or installed
Solution: To fix the problem, try installing the updates again. If that doesn't work, use the Troubleshooter to try solve the problem."

Do you get this same error message Merusk on your wife's PC?

Download a patch manually and try applying that. Here's the latest IE patch:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS08-045.mspx

Pick the browser in the Component column that matches your browser and OS and it'll take you to the download page.

[MuffinMan]

Manually downloading and installing that update did work. Another one that is always in the list as being unable to be installed also worked manually. Is this how I have to do it for now on?

[Trippy]

Depends on how badly your system is screwed up. Have you tried something like this?:

http://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=6714

[Merusk]

"Problem: A problem on your computer is preventing updates from being downloaded or installed
Solution: To fix the problem, try installing the updates again. If that doesn't work, use the Troubleshooter to try solve the problem."

Do you get this same error message Merusk on your wife's PC?

I don't believe so. I'd have to try patching it again to see the exact message.  I discovered the problem about 2 months ago, but I REALLLLY don't want to wipe her hard drive and reinstall everything.  Plus she's got all the photos backed-up on her machines because I'm too poor to afford one of those nifty stand-alone home file servers right now and burning them to disc would suck.

[Engels]

External hard drives are hardly that expensive.

Here's a handy list:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150414%20131021346%201035907839&bop=And&Order=PRICE

[MuffinMan]

Depends on how badly your system is screwed up. Have you tried something like this?:

http://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=6714

Re-registering that list of *.dll's fixed it. Don't know why I didn't find that when I looked for a solution a couple of months ago  Thanks Trippy.

[Merusk]

External hard drives are hardly that expensive.

Here's a handy list:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150414%20131021346%201035907839&bop=And&Order=PRICE

Dude.. I shut off my Cable because I need to be able to afford food & gas.  I'm paying near $500 a month right now to pay off debits my wife fucked us with a few years ago.  In a year or two I'll be debit-free but right now even $50 is too much.  My household income is less than your personal in all likelyhood.

Ed: I got snippier than I should have.

[Engels]

eh, my bad. Sorry to hear you're struggling :/