Windows XP Difficulty Connecting to the Internet

[Arthur Gray]

I have an old (10 years) computer which I have had to reinstall Windows XP on.This was done using the original installation disc. To use this disc I had to reformat the hard drive. The computer is now running XP again. The original installation disc was of course also 10 years old so the version of XP was up to SP2 only. I have now managed to upgrade to SP3.
I Know that using this computer on the internet is risky however I would like to be able to do so occassionally for short periods of time. I have a wireless connection to my home network router and this works as I can connect to my Epson XP-620 printer satisfactorilly. My problem is that I cannot connect to the internet. Such action appears to be blocked by the built in version of Windows Internet Explorer (Version 6) which will not me any access to either upgrade to version 11 or use Google Chrome (My preferred option). I keep getting "page unobtainable" messages and suggestions on how to fix none of which seem to work. Programs such as AVG Antivirus (also installed) do access the internet automatically and update every day so this kind of access is possible, but I cannot personally browse.
Can anyone help me with this problem? Sorry to be so long winded but it is quite a complicated situation and I wanted to make it as clear as possible.

 

[Neemobeer]

I would start by checking the obvious, cables plugged in and driver installed. If that checks out please run the script here and upload the results.

Network Diagnostic Information

 

[Arthur Gray]

Hi Neemobeer,
I've downloaded the zip file in the "Network Diagnostic Information" and unzipped it on the XP computer which gave me the following file " Network_Info.bat" . On opening this file, again on the XP computer, I was presented with a lot of unintelligible (to me) information similar in style to that obtained when using the command prompt which has me lost. I don't understand what you mean when you say "run the script here and upload New the results" ?
Just to repeat, my problem is that although I can connect wirelessly to my router (I do not use an ethernet cable) and can use my wireless printer/scanner satisfactorily. Access beyond the router to browse the internet is blocked. It seems that my version of Internet Explorer (version 6) is no longer supported and something is blocking it from accessing the internet to enable me to either update it or to download another browser. Do I have to bite the bullet and completely remove Internet Explorer and then download and install a more recent version, or is there some other way to upgrade to a working browser?

 

[Neemobeer]

Double click the bat file, it will create a text file on your desktop, upload the text file

 

[Arthur Gray]

Hi Neemobeer,
I did what you suggested but all I got was a window opened on the desktop which looked like the Command Prompt but this quickly closed it's self before I could do anything with it. However while puzzling over this Microsoft started downloading and then installing a whole raft of updates. These included Internet Explorer 8. When I tried to use this it declared that it would no longer be supported by Microsoft but surprise surprise it allowed me to access the internet. The problem is therefore now fixed! I will of course be very sparing in my use of the internet on this machine even though the firewall is on and my AVG Anti-virus is up to date
Thanks for your help anyhow.