A mysterious problem… FIXED!
-
I had a problem where I could not open a command prompt, could not turn on my Windows Defender, and could not access a lot of websites (including this one) unless I used a VPN.
I ran the FREE version of Malware Bytes (it's actually a 14 day trial, but you don't have to give them a credit card or even email address.)
That found a ton of crap and removed it.. I ran it 3 times until it coudn't remove any more garbage.I think that fixed the problems.. but I also did an SFC /scannnow
And then did a Windows Inplace upgrade from an 8gb thumb drive.That fixed everything! no more vpn required now.
I suspect my ISP (spectrum) did something to my computer when my firewall was down.