Question : Troubleshooting a Windows Vista Home Premium networking problem for a client.

Dell XPS 420  Quad Core
Windows Vista Home Premium
3GB RAM

Everytime I open a browser (Firefox or IE), the connection status drops to local only.     As soon as I hit diagnose and repair it comes back but then after initiating the browser it drops again.  This is repeatable.     The system had a number of spyware (VUNDO,  Spyware.passwords, and several others) which were removed with Malwarebytes.   The system was running AVG 9.0 but remnants of both McAfee and Norton remained.   Using removal tools these remnants were removed.    Uninstalled AVG and installed Avira.    Avira shows no infections.

Unable to install Spybot Search and Destroy or AdAware as the internet connection drops immediately.    Can no longer get updates for MalwareBytes.  Internet connection drops immediately.

Thanks
Tracy

Answer : Troubleshooting a Windows Vista Home Premium networking problem for a client.

You know what, you should better reinstall Windows and restart again. Once done that get a good AV and AntiSpyware and you should have no problem.