Help with WiFi and/or Windows Security

[piddyprints]

I have a new HP Victus Windows Gaming laptop that I purchased just last month. It was working fine until yesterday. 2 things happened, but I don't know which one broke it.

1) When I opened it up, it started updating, even though I don't have automatic updates turned on.
2) We got a new modem from Xfinity.

It connects to the WiFi just fine. But I can't browse most sites on either Microsoft Edge or Opera. We have several different devices connected to our WiFi, including 2 Windows11 computers, 2 MacBooks, Mac Mini, iPad, iPhones, cameras, etc., and they all work. It's just this one computer that's not working right.

I thought it was something about their firewall, although I don't know what changed there, but everything works just fine when I use my phone's Personal Hotspot. I've tried resetting the network adapters and that doesn't help.

I found out the hard way that there is no way to call either HP or Microsoft. I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any ideas? TIA

[walkingman]

1. Can you go to command prompt and "ping" a site successfully?

for example....ping google.com

Also see if it shows you are using a "proxy" - if so don't

You might also try changing your DNS settings to google's

The primary IPv4 addresses are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
The primary IPv6 addresses are 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844.

[piddyprints]

2. Times out.

I'll try the DNS settings.

[walkingman]

3. I edited to change from yahoo to google because yahoo has changed - try that and see

[piddyprints]

5. I can ping now.

I changed the DNS and it works for DU but not for everything. I'm actually typing this from the problem computer now. I can browse to google, but not duckduckgo.

[walkingman]

6. I would try disabling my firewall and antivirus app and see what happens

[piddyprints]

7. Ok, but I don't understand

why they don't interfere when I'm connected via my phone's hotspot. I'll definitely try, though. Thanks.

[walkingman]

8. You could try going to command prompt and type..ipconfig /flushdns

[piddyprints]

9. Neither one of those things worked.

I'm just about ready to set the computer back to factory settings. I only have 1 game on it, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal to restore it.

[walkingman]

10. Just for grins - try booting into safe mode with network and see what happens...

[piddyprints]

12. Thanks. I found the problem.

I uninstalled the latest Windows update and it all works fine now.

Thanks so much for your help.

[walkingman]

16. Good for you...congratulations. Never give up!! ☮

[Tetrachloride]

4. Take it back for a refund?

online or store purchased?

[LearnedHand]

11. You might also google the specific updates you received

it’s possible there’s a known error causing the issue. When you search, choose official sites to read about the issue, especially if Microsoft has published one or more KBs.

[piddyprints]

13. Thanks.

I just backed out the last one and that did the trick.

[LearnedHand]

14. Well dang, but glad you found a fix

There was some recent hoopla about a Microsoft update wreaking havok. I wondered if that might have been an issue for your machine.

[piddyprints]

15. Might have been.

I absolutely hate Microsoft and only have a Windows computer for the game I like to play. I do all my serious work on my MacBook. (Apple support actually exists and is still good.) I messed with it all day long and now will have to keep an eye out to make sure my updates stay paused. My husband’s computer didn’t update, or he would have had the same problem.