So the internet is not working at my good old future alma mater.

Well, that's not entirely true. It's only down in my room, sort of. See, I have a desktop and a laptop computer in my room. The desktop stopped being able to access the internet a few days ago, but for some reason my laptop is totally unaffected by this problem and is working online just dandy.

My desktop is running Service Pack 2, with all updates installed. It stopped connecting shortly after I ran an Ad-Aware SE scan, which led me to believe it was that Winsock problem I have heard about. I ran a WinsockFix program, to no avail. This desktop is virus- and spyware-free as best I can tell, and the really weird part is that I CAN STILL GET AN IP ADDRESS. I run ipconfig, and it gives me a valid IP address; my network settings are all configured correctly. I turned off the Windows Firewall, although it still lists the firewall as being "ON" in the Windows XP Security Center.

My laptop is not currently running Service Pack 2. I have not kept it updated because I normally don't hook it up to the network.

I called my school's help desk, and they told me that I couldnt' access the internet because there are too many virusses (We had an outbreak of the Sasser and Korgo worms recently) that are clogging up all the bandwidth, and that this is also why I can't play online games, because the ports are all closed in response to the virus infestation. This reasoning sounds not quite sound, especially since only one of my computers is affected, but then again I am no expert on this crazy networking stuff.

So yeah. Am I just totally missing something? Is there something I am doing wrong? Do you need more information to even be able to tell?

I appreciate the help.

I wasn't sure weather this should go in the Networking forum or the Windows XP forum, so I just put it in the networking forum anyway. If you want to move it, that's okay.

Well, if the school says their access is down and you use it to go online then that's what is causing it. However, if the school is having that many problems with their access due to simple infestations of Sasser and Korgo, their network admin doesn't know what they're doing. I don't have SP2 on this system so I can't be certain, but I think there's like 3 separate areas to diable the firewall, one of them being in Services(?).

Do the computers share the same jack via hub or router or are they on separate jacks? you could try hooking the desktop up to the laptop jack

You could use System Restore and go back to the day before you ran adaware.

If the school is having problems you should also check that that you are receiving a vaild dhcp and dns server for their network. It is possible someone just yanked the cable for that port