to summarise:

<maevie> this is so ****ing weird
<maevie> my internet is screwed, basically
<maevie> each time I disconnect and reconnect my modem I get a few minutes where it'll work
<maevie> but it takes FOREVER to load any webpages, and I usually don't even manage to load one before the connection dies again
<maevie> and yet
<maevie> massassi works fine
<Deadman> intersting
<Deadman> what about google?
<maevie> nope
<maevie> been waiting on a search for a good 3 minutes or so now
<Deadman> so massassi is super-leet
<maevie> indeed
<Deadman> does that include posting?
<maevie> dunno, haven't found anything I want to post on yet
<maevie> and the irony is, I'm googling virgin media to try to get to the troubleshooting pages and work out what the hell is up with my connection

So, consider this a test post. but I do have a point. in the *checks clock* 6 minutes I've been waiting for google to load (I've not got high hopes at this point), it occurred to me: I have never used the "I'm feeling lucky" button. it's always appeared to me to be a shortcut to spam hell. anyone think of it as a legitimate search feature?

Not me, I've never felt lucky.

ok, so I'm turning this in to a tech thread now! I spoke to a lovely man in India who talked me through some stuff and now my connection seems to be staying on (and working faster for some sites). However, I still can't access certain sites (ebay, facebook, google - can get to the home page but it won't load a search). I've started up in safe mode and they work fine, and I've now also turned off windows firewall (Deadman is awesome) and everything works. so, it's an issue with windows firewall - anyone know how to fix it?

scratch that, facebook stopped loading even with the firewall off. the man in India said it was probably a problem between AVG and my firewall. But I've restored my default settings, and tried switching them both off, and that hasn't helped.

Everything works fine for me, but for some reason, facebook is the one exception -- it takes forever to load.

I've been having problems with facebook recently as well, so the site must be bonkered.

I've been accessing it fine from work, and that also doesn't explain why I can't get on to google or ebay... or dictionary.com

UK is censoring you.

I will admit that I was suckered into this thread because I saw "feeling lucky?" as posted by maevie. Darn you for capitalizing on my predictable mind!

With that said, hope you're able to figure out your problem. My computer's been and on-and-off troublemaker as well.

I use the built in google search in opera, so i dont see that button on here.

As was I...

Check the hosts file ([windows directory]\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, open with a text editor), tell us the contents. Some malware will edit it to prevent you from getting to certain sites.

I was having problems with Facebook recently too. Just hitting "Repair" on the connection immediately fixed the problem, though. Maybe the DNS needed to be flushed?

Same here. *sigh*

http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ is a useful site.

Also it could have been a DNS problem you were having, you can test this theory by using the command line "nslookup" tool and putting a hostname there (like "google.com") and seeing if it times out (you should get a near-immediate response with one or several IP address).

That's awesome, I'll have to remember that.

But what happens if it's down?

timing is everything!

i read the thread, see the name of maevie's ISP
i go to read slashdot, THIRD STORY DOWN:

WHAT?

edit: I'll find a different provider of a this story if some admin doesn't like the story's host