I was surfing the net on my laptop and suddenly got a message from Norton saying I should reboot my computer to finish fixing a threat.
So I did
When it restarted I did a full virus check and it found nothing.
But then I couldn't access internet explorer. Everything else seemed to be working fine, I could sign into MSN MESSENGER (which requires an internet connection), but couldn't get onto internet explorer and links didn't work when I clicked on them.
I did another virus search which revealed nothing and tried to do a system restore but it wouldn't work.
Now, most of the time when I turn in on it doesn't even get as far as the log in page
Other TIMES it does but the ORIGINAL problem persists
Do I have a virus?
How can I fix it?

I can't access any websites to do other virus checks because it won't open internet explorer in the first place. I'm using the family computer at the moment

Thanks in advance for any help offered. I would really really appreciate it. Also, I am not very computer savvy so please speak in baby words for me Will Firefox work?I don't have firefox installed so I don't knowThen, you need to install it, so we know, it's IE problem, or something else.The thing is I can't access the internet in the first place to install it.
Do you not have to get it from online? My only browser is IE, and I can't get on the net on that so I can't get on the net other than MSN which doesn't use a browser
Am I wrong in this assumption? I really don't know much about computers.Let's clarify something first.

Go Start>Run ("Start search" in VISTA).
Type in:
cmd
Click OK (HIT Enter in Vista).

At Command Prompt, type in:
ping www.google.com > ping.txt
Hit Enter.

In Window Explorer navigate to:
C:\Documents and Settings\your_name (C:\Users\your_name in Vista)
Double click on ping.txt to open it in Notepad.
Copy all text, and post it in your next reply.