I'm using Vista with Firefox, I get online with no problem, can go surf most sites, but when i try to download something from a site a get a message that says I,m not connected to the internet,but I am
also if I shut down Firefox it will not open until i restart the labtop
I turned off the Firewall
Removed all Virus programs but Norton 360 which I cannot remove-its cannot find the Path in add/remove and when I tried to download a Norton360 removal program it would not connect to internet.
I had tried AVG and Avira and Virus programs but they will not update after install and they found just tracking cookies
Tried Kaspersky virus program but Norton 360 needs to be removed firest which i cannot do.
I have three labtops running in this house only the one running Vista is a problem
Also I,m online with my labtop because I can open AOL mail and read it I cant write new mail- it will not open
Thinking about reformating and installing xp pro never had so many problems since Vista
Any help

Right get rid of the Norton rubbish, as you can't download on that system simply download the removal program on another system, then use a thumb drive or burn it to disk to move over to the problem system, might be worth your while doing the same with Avast and when thats installed it will ask if you want to do a boot time scan, say yes and then reboot, the system may not appear to do anything for a while, but it is scanning and will complete booting once thats finished.
Once thats done see how you go and report back, we can go from there then.

"Removed all Virus programs but Norton 360 which I cannot remove-its cannot find the Path in add/remove and when I tried to download a Norton360 removal program it would not connect to internet."

Hard to remove Norton when you can't download the removal tool.
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Have you tried downloading the Norton removal tool using Internet Explorer? If not, give that a try and let us know how oyu do.