Fixing Corrupted TCP/IP Stack and Winsock in Windows XP

The nasty side of networking problems in Windows XP is that there are so many unknowns which cause them, and it’s plain hard to figure out how to bring Windows XP back to its senses. For example, if you’re cleaning up consequences of a virus or a trojan you might run into “limited connectivity” or inability to have an IP address issued by your router acting in the capacity of a DHCP server.

Sometimes you can reset your networking settings with netsh.exe. Well, in my case it did no good. My WinXP still wasn’t seeing the router. Then I came across WinsockXPFix.exe—a neat little tool which not only resets registry settings similar to how netsh.exe does it, but also fixes those of Winsock (I noticed it’s Winsock that causes problems most of the time).

I hope this tip saves some of you a couple of hours or days, or a Windows reinstall. It depends on how much patience you have.