Partial loss of internet connectivity through wired Ethernet...

For reasons unknown, I have suddenly lost internet connectivity for most applications in Windows 10. Firefox gives me the "Server not found" message and Edge gives me "Hmm, we can't reach this page" for every website.

If I run Windows Update, it states, "We couldn't connect to the update service ... Make sure you are connected to the internet." In services.msc, Windows Update is shown as running, so that's not the issue.

Stranger still is the fact that the Tor Browser can access all websites. Yes, I have the Tor Browser bundle installed, and I decided to test it not expecting it to work. Color me surprised.

And of course other computers attached to the same router can also reach websites.

All of that said, how should I go about troubleshooting this issue? I'm quite curious to discover the cause of this sudden loss of connectivity for most applications.

Thanks!

And a little more information: my antivirus, ESET NOD32 apparently can still connect to its update server. I also have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware installed as a second opinion scanner, and when I click "Update" there, it states, "Unable to access update server."

All of the above results are the same after re-boot, etc.

As I said before, I'm really curious as to the cause and solution for this issue... Thanks again :)

No one has a suggestion as to how to troubleshoot this?

I have disabled System Restore, so I'll need to revert to a backup image... But I would have guessed something like this could be identified and fixed.

Thanks anyway.

Just as an FYI to help anyone else who may be having a similar issue ... I was able to correct my problem by changing the DNS preferred and alternate DNS server in 'Ethernet Properties', 'Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)'. Yes, come to find out it was a problem with my DNS servers.

I believe the applications that were able to access the internet were the ones that bypass the DNS server by accessing sites directly through their IP addresses.

Another way to troubleshoot this type of network issue is to execute the following commands at an elevated command prompt.

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /renew

These may also repair an internet connectivity problem.

Hope this helps someone.