Internet explorer/Firefox failed to connect

I am using Vista Home edition which has windows defender, I also have AVG
free edition of antivirus.

Been using this for the last 7 months with no problems, then a couple of
weeks ago I suddenly couldn't get into IE or Firefox. I have internet
connection, as I am able to use my AOL browser.

Have spent the last 2 weeks trying to solve the problem. Have uninstalled
and re-installed firefox, have done a system restore, have done a virus
check. Nothing has changed. I keep getting the following message

Failed to Connect
The connection was refused when attempting to contact en-gb.www.mozilla.com.
Though the site seems valid, the browser was unable to establish a connection.
* Could the site be temporarily unavailable? Try again later.
* Are you unable to browse other sites? Check the computer's network
connection.
* Is your computer or network protected by a firewall or proxy? Incorrect
settings can interfere with Web browsing.

My ISP is Virgin Media and they advise it could be a problem with Defender.

Can anyone help me please ?

Defender would not cause this behavior.

Is www.mozilla.com the only website you can't access?

What other anti-virus applications or security suites might be installed?
What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)? What third-party
firewall (if any)?

Was a Norton or McAfee application ever installed on the machine?

Are you running Vista or Vista SP1 currently? <= NB: This is just a
question, not a recommendation/suggestion to install SP1!

Not Mozilla is not the only website, it is all websites.
No other firewalls, antivirus, security suites to my knowledge.
Yes, this machine came loaded with free Norton, but when the free version
ran out I uninstalled it about 3 months ago.

How do I determine if I have Vista SP1 ?

Download/run this removal tool, then reboot & see if the behavior persists:

Norton Removal Tool
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...05033108162039

that has done the trick. Obviously I had not
uninstalled all of Norton.

I am so very grateful to you.

[masero]

Thank you for this wonderful advice. I had been trying for over a fortnight to get any browser working on my niece's laptop. This trick fixed it perfectly. It makes me think that Norton products may be rather unfriendly to other programs.

You have responded without quoting any previous posting. While this may be
fine in whatever web-based forum you decided to respond to this synchronized
message from a newsgroup - it looks like the above to anyone using the
actual newsgroups from which this message started.

For anyone interested in what worked and what it worked on...

Yeah but ... the comment about Norton is a keeper

[jro2280]

Wow- this worked for me too, and I had the Same exact issues everyone else was describing. I too was scratching my head, because from all tests that I could perform, I had a connection to the internet (ping, nslookup, valid IP) but couldnt surf.

Anyways, I ran the removal tool, rebooted and was able to surf no problem after that! Thanks for the post! My 2 Cents - Vista SUCKS BIG TIME, and just go with symantec antivirus std, not 360. I will be telling everyone what 360 did to my laptop.....

Thanks again - I would have never fixed this without this post

Posts from TechArena.are one way conversations because of that. I really do not
bother when a post shows up from there. Like spiting in the wind

http://forums.techarena.in
A leech site pretending to have forums by running a webnews-for-dummies
interface that submits improperly formatted posts through a gateway to
Usenet (aka newsgroups).