Computer Question: I can connect to my router, it says I have local and internet access, but I can't pull up any web pages.

I’ve never used avast but this sounds like it could be the problem. “error about not being able to get the web filter thingy going”
If their method is to install it to the kernel, or as a pass-through driver.

What does safe mode with networking do? (Reboot, F8, choose safe mode with networking)

Your browser is not the issue. Did you install a firewall aside from windows firewall?

Best free anti-virus is AVG to date. free.grisoft.com should still be available. Very high detection rates. Free updates.
Best commercial app for malware so far is prevx (yearly license). Why? Analysis based detection, looking at behavior rather than matching with a list. Very good with brand new malware that no one else knows about.

My first thought is that maybe you’ve configured an invalid web proxy. Your computer is redirecting all out-bound requests not to the site you specify, but to a proxy server that would theoretically forward your request to the site you specified. In IE, click on Tools, Internet Options, Connections, LAN Settings. Uncheck and clear-out any fields in the Automatic Connections and Proxy boxes.

Another thing to try is instead of ping, try tracert. Open up a command window and type
tracert www.google.com

See if your connection gets any further than your own computer.

Good luck!

it is possible that your network adapter has an invalid IP address stuck to it. . .

try deleting your network adapter ftom your device list, then re-boot your PC. It should then start to look for new devices, find the network adater, auto install drivers and give you something like a “Device found and ready for use” message. At that point, try to connect to your wireless network.

I had a problem similar to this the other day. It turned out to be my firewall settings that were blocking the pages.

If you have any firewall settings that you can change then I’d say its worth a shot.

Are you set to dynamic IP?

Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you all! I appreciate all your help, but so far I’m not getting anywhere.

@phoebusg
Safe mode with networking doesn’t help. It still tells me I’m connected to local and the internet, but I still can’t pull anything up. (Chrome says the page isn’t available, IE says the address isn’t valid.)
Haven’t installed a firewall. The only things that have been on the computer in that way was NOD 32, PC Tools, and Avast!, and all have been uninstalled.

@MrItty
In LAN Settings, there is nothing to uncheck or clear-out. Everything is blank there.
Did the tracert, don’t understand anything. I print screened it though:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e36/Dee1313/Tracert.jpg

@njnyjobs
I’m not sure I feel comfortable doing that because I wouldn’t know exactly what I’m doing.

@LeotCol
Windows Firewall is on. Turned it off, still no luck.

@Grisson
I use Comcast, and I think they do that, but I’m not sure. If it is specific to my computer… I have no idea how I’d find that out.

—
If I have to resort to it, where would be the best place to take my computer to get fixed?

@dee1313 that traceroute shows that your computer is making the connection just fine. That boils the problem down to your web browsers. Maybe they’re set up to use a proxy that doesn’t exist, or your firewall is blocking them.

I’ve uninstalled the virus software I’ve put on it, so no firewalls from that (that I know of). I turned Windows firewall off. Still no luck.

I have Skype set up to automatically log in me, and it acts like it does (makes the sound and I can bring up my friend list and whatnot), but the little ‘s’ bubble is grey and it has two arrows pointing at each other making a circle going round and round, like its trying to connect. I told it to check for updates and Skype tells me that my “computer does not seem to have internet access.”

When I go to the Internet Properties window you mentioned, everything is blank. (Both IE & Chrome take me to the same window.)
There is nothing under the dial-up & VPN settings.
Below that it says, “Choose Settings if you need to configure a proxy server for a connection.” All the options below that are greyed-out, but the first one, “never dial a connection” is selected. Under the third option it says “Current None”
When I go to LAN settings, nothing is checked, and the only thing in the greyed-out fields is “80” in the Port field under proxy server.

Weird thing, my computer still does the Windows update things that run when you shut it down. I don’t know how Windows goes about it (if it has had those updates for a while and just now decided to tell me or what), but I’d imagine it gets that from the internet.

I really appreciate your help!

I ended up taking to to Geek Squad and they guy there used a tool to reset some stuff (and charged me $30 for a half-hour). Thanks everyone!