I already posted this in another forum separate from BOINC, with very limited results. The guy told me what I should have done, not what I can maybe do to fix the problem. I would like to avoid paying Ballmer the $59 fee for Windows tech support, so I thought I would give this a shot. BOINC is only one of the programs being affected.

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I left my computer on last night as I always do. I woke up this morning and my computer had been rebooted after an apparent Mcirosoft or Windows Security Update. I have a password prompt and entered it to finish logging in to Windows XP and was greeted with messages saying Y! IM, AIM, avast! (among others) all would not start due to missing file wsock32.dll.

I found a site and downloaded the wsock32 file and installed it in \Windows\system.

That solved some of the problems with avast! but that's about the only thing it did. It says avast! cannot protect incoming or outgoing mail. Also and usually use Opera for browsing. It will not work:

"You tried to access the address https://login.yahoo.com/config/login_verify2?&.src=ym, which is currently unavailable. Please make sure that the Web address (URL) is correctly spelled and punctuated, then try reloading the page.
Make sure your Internet connection is active and check whether other applications that rely on the same connection are working."

Also, AIM and Y! IM will not start, Outlook will not function, and BOINC will not work. "BOINC Manager is not able to connect to a BOINC client."

I have connectivity through Internet Explorer, but that is it. I tried a system restore, but to no avail. avast! will work, but will not scan email.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

If you have the Windows XP CD, put it in, don't allow it to start up.
Then go Start->Run, type sfc /scannow and click OK. This will start the Windows File Checker, which will put any files that are corrupted or otherwise broken or missing back from the CD. You may need to do a Windows Update afterwards.

If that doesn't work, just repair install Windows XP.

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Glad Compaq didn't send one along :-/

Also no hidden partition with a 'repair floppy'? As that's how they usually do it.

If it was Windows XP with SP2 that was on there, there's another quick fix option for winsock problems: Start->Run, type netsh winsock reset and click OK. Then reboot the PC and Winsock should be working again.

XP users who don't have SP2 installed need to delete the Winsock Registry settings, by using REGEDIT to remove the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Winsock and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \ Winsock2 keys. You must then restart your PC, forcing Windows to recreate these Registry entries.

Finally, right-click your Internet or network connection and select Properties > Install > Protocol > Add. Select 'Have Disk', type c:\Windows\Inf and click OK, then select 'Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)' and click OK. Reboot once TCP/IP has been reinstalled, and your PC should be working again.

Or take a look at this utility. It's freeware and repairs problems with Winsock on XP.

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I did what you said (Service Pack 2) and still nothing. I tried both suggestions, with the same result. This is really pushing me to consider a Mac next time.

Thanks for your help though! :)

I reread your first post and saw you downloaded the wsock32.dll (I hope it was for XP!) and put it in your C:\Windows\system\ directory... It should be in C:\Windows\system32\

The only other thing I can think of is that you have a virus or piece of spyware on your computer that's withholding you from fixing this problem. Can you install programs? Do you have Spybot S&D and did you run it? Did your AV program flag anything suspicious, or can it not run without the winsock module?

Did you get a system repair floppy or CD with the system? It may be the best thing left to do: reinstall Windows.

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