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FIXING THE TCP/IP
STACK AND WINSOCK
TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol /
Internet Protocol and the TCP/IP Stack is the set of
layers of communications protocol that connects computers
on the internet. In Windows, this is controlled by a file
called Winsock.dll. If you are having troubles relating
to this type of problem, some of the symptoms you
encounter may be that you can "ping" pages on
the internet, but your browser always returns a
"page cannot be displayed" error.
Sometimes this type of error develops as a result of
running a program like LavaSoft's AdAware or SpyBot
Search & Destory in order to get rid of
"spyware" running behind the scenes on your
computer. These programs may inadvertently destroy your
internet connectivity by removing certain necessary
Registry entries. You might also develop such a problem
after removing network software incorrectly or
uninstalling a firewall improperly, or even running a
Registry cleaner a little too recklessly.
In previous versions of Windows, you can reinstall the
TCP/IP protocol fairly easily, but in Windows XP the
TCP/IP stack is a core component of the OS. However, you
can "reset" the TCP/IP to the same state it was
in as when you first installed Windows XP, as described
in this Microsoft Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;299357
How to Reset Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) in Windows XP
What you basically have to do is to type at a Command
Prompt a command like the following:
netsh int ip reset logfile.txt
When this command is executed, it rewrites pertinent
registry keys that are used by the Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP) stack to achieve the same result as the removal
and the reinstallation of the protocol. The registry keys
affected are at the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DHCP\Parameters\
There is a program available called WinsockXpFix.exe that
does the above, and that also does some other things that
are aimed at fixing Winsock in XP. It replaces Registry
keys here:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2
It backs up a file called Hosts in the folder
WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc and then replaces it with a
default new one. The Hosts is a plain text file linking
web or network addresses with their IP addresses; this
file may contain invalid entries due to modified web page
addresses, and may become corrupted as the result of
spyware, trojans, the use of file transmission networks
such as KaZaa, etc.
After doing all this it reboots the computer.
The WinsockXpFix.exe program can be downloaded directly
from the author, here:
http://www.iup.edu/house/resnet/WinsockXPFix.exe
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