Internet is connected in Windows Vista, but I cannot connect to certain websites or update anything

[kn1000a]

My relatives recently gave me their Dell Windows Vista Ultimate PC, 32-bit. Apparently it has too many problems and they simply can't stand using it anymore. This is the link to the second problem.


The first problem is that this PC can connect to the WiFi just fine, and I can go on the Internet and such, but not able to do some of the following things (using IE 9):

• Cannot access certain websites like the screenshot (where Firefox can). When I click on "Diagnose Connection Problems", it will run for a bit before saying that it cannot connect to the secured server and that the server might be down or not available, something along this line.

• Even for websites that I can connect to, sometimes I can't download anything. The website will appear to be loading indefinitely.

• Things like Windows Update will continuously run for a long period of time without any conclusion or error.

I always make sure the PC time is correct and had run a speed test from beta.speetest.net and got a good result for my connection, so I am certain it is not something WiFi related. Plus, at the moment I cannot really have the PC connected to an Ethernet, unfortunately.


I would like common advise on cases like this, what should one troubleshoot and test? Let's just assume that the problem also exists if I connect to the Ethernet; what should I do? Thank you very much.

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