just an FYI

[Garrick]

The latest Windows update has a problem to it. It can interfere with your firewall (if not using windows firewall) and cause loss of internet connectivity.  If you or someone you know has experienced sudden internet loss after updating with Window's then just delete the update file KB951748 and it will restore connectivity. This only seem's to affect Windows XP/2000 user's.  This is just a head's up since it happened to me and I had to restore factory settings and lost A LOT of stuff from over the years.

[Marlenus]

Huh.. Quite interesting.

This should only affect people who are using a software firewall such as ZoneAlarm. Another known software firewall that this update is breaking is Checkpoint. The issue is actually on the firewall software's side of things, not Microsoft's.

Here is a link to an article on the ZoneAlarm site which describes how to fix the problem. Checkpoint users or users of other software firewalls should refer to their firewall's respective websites to see if they have an update to fix this problem.

ZoneAlarm Workaround to Sudden Loss of Internet Access Problem