The problem is with flash videos, particularly YouTube videos, causing my internet connection to stop functioning. All my links on Firefox will suddenly stop loading and refreshing just leads to nowhere as the pages are searching pointlessly. I like to have a bunch of tabs open. As a result, the issue seems to happen more frequently as the number of flash videos playing grows, but it also happens sometimes when there’s only a single video playing.
I’ve narrowed it down to perhaps being a firewall issue of some sort given that my actual DSL line still works on other computers and that some programs still have internet access. The internet hangs and it also causes other weird things like when I exit a video game called Dota 2, it will not close the game and I’ll have to manually close it via the Windows Task Manager. I also notice that when the internet hangs, only Firefox (tested on Chrome and it hangs as well) and subsequent connections made to the internet by other programs hang. However, programs that were pre-loaded on startup that were already connected to the internet still have connection unless I close and restart that program (ie. Steam – when I restart it, it will be in offline mode). I also notice that Windows XP will not restart sometimes and I’ll have to reset it (reset button) while it hangs on the log out screen (blue screen prior to shutting down). I’ve tried to disable and re-enable my connection without restarting, but the problem is I can’t actually enable it after I’ve disabled the connection which is pretty odd. I’ve also tried to enable my Wi-Fi connection when the internet hangs after I disable the wired connection and the Wi-Fi connection will connect but pages still do not load. So it seems that the issue affects a lot of different things. I’ve only recently noticed this problem (within the year or so). I've managed to get by by restarting, but now it's really getting to be a nuisance.
I’m currently running Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 3, Firefox 23 beta (previously 22 but problems still exist with both and with Chrome Version 28.0.1500.72 m), Flash Player 11.8.800.120 (previously 11.8.800.94 but issues still exist with both).
I’ve tried to uninstall/re-install Flash, Java 7 Update 25, Noscript, Adblock Plus, Java plugins (Deployment Toolkit, Platform), disabling AVG Resident Shield, AVG LinkScanner, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, resorting to Windows Firewall, updating Firefox to beta, Flash beta, you name it. I really don’t want to have to uninstall AVG or format Windows. Perhaps there is a better solution based on similar experiences from other people that I'm not aware of?
I really do appreciate the help. Sorry if it's a little TL;DR.