Well i've got the network fixed. My first attempt involved turning off the IPv6 compatibility for my network connection since someone on a Windows 7 forum suggested that it occasionally caused compatibility problems. It didn't seem to make much sense to me, but i figured it tried it anyways, so i wasn't really that surprised when it didn't seem to have any effect. The next suggestion i came across involved turning off one of the Windows 7 services, which is when i realized that i couldn't start services.msc. Every time i tried it opened winamp instead! Searching around on my phone a little found that it seems to be a rare but not unique problem. After figuring out how to open the file association thingy (which took me way too long to figure out for Windows 7 =P) i reassociated the mmc file type with mmc.exe, and services.msc was working again! Then on a hunch i rebooted my computer, and the internet started working again!
I'm still not sure exactly how the file association got messed up though. It seems the problem is caused by the chipamp plugin (or so someone claimed in one of the forums,) which i know i installed on my old computer and i'm pretty sure i installed on this computer as well (although i can't actually find it in any of the lists of plugins in winamp preferences.) However if so i installed it within a couple days of when i got the computer. So why did the bug wait until now to suddenly pop up? I haven't updated winamp any time recently as far as i can remember, so what changed? I did install some steam games and the PS3 controller driver on saturday, but everything was working fine until monday evening, so i don't see how it could be related to that either.
Speaking of which, for anyone else who wants to try out using your PS3 controller on your PC (and is convinced by the argument that it can't have been responsible for my internet problems =) i found two popular methods.
One uses the "MotionInJoy" drivers, with detailed instructions on how to install it here
The other uses a "SIXAXIS driver" with instructions here (among several places.)
I tried the MotionInJoy driver since that was the first method i discovered. The setup is a little finicky, and every so often (after turning off or unplugging the controller) i have to kill the driver, restart it and reconfigure it, but it definitely works well when you've got it configured properly. I haven't tried the other method yet to see if it's any easier/more stable.
I'm still not sure exactly how the file association got messed up though. It seems the problem is caused by the chipamp plugin (or so someone claimed in one of the forums,) which i know i installed on my old computer and i'm pretty sure i installed on this computer as well (although i can't actually find it in any of the lists of plugins in winamp preferences.) However if so i installed it within a couple days of when i got the computer. So why did the bug wait until now to suddenly pop up? I haven't updated winamp any time recently as far as i can remember, so what changed? I did install some steam games and the PS3 controller driver on saturday, but everything was working fine until monday evening, so i don't see how it could be related to that either.
Speaking of which, for anyone else who wants to try out using your PS3 controller on your PC (and is convinced by the argument that it can't have been responsible for my internet problems =) i found two popular methods.
One uses the "MotionInJoy" drivers, with detailed instructions on how to install it here
The other uses a "SIXAXIS driver" with instructions here (among several places.)
I tried the MotionInJoy driver since that was the first method i discovered. The setup is a little finicky, and every so often (after turning off or unplugging the controller) i have to kill the driver, restart it and reconfigure it, but it definitely works well when you've got it configured properly. I haven't tried the other method yet to see if it's any easier/more stable.
Current Mood: 
confused
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