Connection freezes computer

[dj56]

My Dell computer is less than a year old and I had been having an occaisional problem of the whole system freezing when I try to connect to the internet. I am on dial up but it would not even begin to dial.

Ctr-alt-del has no effect. I must shut down and restart. Most recently I scanned for viruses(there were none) and checked for spyware. (3 problems, fixed)

Since doing those two things, I can't ever connect now. system totally freezes. Any suggestions?

[Ob1]

have u tried a restore pt?

[dj56]

forgive my ignorance....but...restore pt?

[glc]

System restore. Restore your system back to a date when it was working okay.

Programs, accessories, system tools, system restore.

[dj56]

No I haven't. If I do, am I correct to assume that I would have to back up any info on say a Quickbooks program?

[Ob1]

its always a good idea to back up your data. i believe you can put all of your data in your my documents folder on your profile and it should be safe. windows xp restore pt exludes the my documents folders when running a restore pt so your data, or docs should be safe, but like i said earlier always good practice to back up on some other form of media (dvdr/rw, cdr/rw, external hard drive, another networked pc, etc), cause u never know when that hard drive will die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dj56]

I'm not comfortable about restoring and if I can avoid it, I would be a happy camper.
I've determined thru msconfig, that a service called, Lexbce Server is preventing my connection to the internet. If I disable it, I can connect but then I have to no printer.

I've uninstalled the printer, rebooted in safe mode and tried to delete the offending files. Didn't work.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!