My Windows XP PC got a nasty virus (vundo) and I cleaned it up but now very weird internet behavior.
Perl can access the internet - programs using LWP::Simple, Net::POP3, Net::FTP, Mail::POP3Client all work fine.
Firefox cannot load pages. Thunderbird cannot login. Even Telnet cannot access the internet.
telnet smtp.comcast.net 25 << fails with "Could not open connection to the host, on port 25. The requested service provider could not be loaded or initialized"
telnet www.google.com 80 << fails (same msg)
telnet mail.comcast.net 110 <<< fails (same msg)

In order to find out why my normal windows apps cannot access the internet I think I need to understand why Perl can.

SOLVED!
It's amazing how quickly I tend solve problems when I decide to ask others for help. My google searches led me to a MS technote containing this little gem :

C:>netsh winsock reset

That solved the problem, for now at least.

Apparently perl doesn't rely on winsock???

Thanks everyone for responding.

In reply to What is perl doing right? Perl can access internet - browser, telnet, others cannot by nickm

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