The hosting stuff, if you're referring to hosting games and things over the internet, is also if not especially related to your connection. The vast majority of that stuff could be caused by your router if it isn't set up properly, a poorly configured software firewall such as zonealarm, or even the Windows XP firewall if you're using that (you may not even KNOW you're using that, it's sneaky). You need to get the right ports forwarded and triggered for different programs. The FTP program issue could be the programs responding ungracefully because they can't get through port 21 (I think it's 21 for FTP, it's been a while). Other than that, I can't think of anything that would cause multiple FTP programs to screw up. The.tk thing is odd, but might have to do with a bad hosts file somewhere on your system. Try traceroute-ing to a.tk and see what happens. At any rate, none of the things you listed sound like the telltale symptoms of a windows install gone rogue. It sounds more like your internet connection is f-ed up somewhere along the line to me. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> oh yess, you should try pinging and tracerouting a.tk domain, just go to start/run.... and type sth like ping www.2emulation.tk or tracert www.2emulation.tk and since you typed it, visit the damned forums anyway as I ws saying this might be related to a hardware component failing, it usually gives some realy nasty errors, did you have any problems installing windows or another application? oh yes and check you have connected everything properly, i mean sometimes a cable or component can get loose....