Downloads prevented

[phil d]

My PC has suddenly (but not particularly recently) stopped carrying out downloads.  Running Windows 7 Home Premium, with McAfee AV/Firewall etc.  I have not changed the Firewall settings, nor the permissions.  It appears that Windows updates download OK, but McAfee has not updated itself since early October, and I cannot download files from websites.  I can open files attached to emails.

I use Google Chrome and Thunderbird.  Have tried using Firefox but no different.  IE won't open in my normal profile (which has administrator status) but will when I use the "pure" administrator profile - again, no difference.  I have tried turning firewall off, but made no difference.  I looked to go back to an old restore point, but the oldest was more recent than the problem!

Any thoughts?

[pcolbeck]

Define cant download. What happens when you click on a file you want to download ? In Firefox if you right click and choose save as what happens ?

[phil d]

I can't recall how it "responded" in Firefox.  In Chrome it normally shows the downloaded file in the bottom left corner, which you can then save or open (and the file is in the downloads directory).  Currently it puts the file name in the corner (as if it were dealing with it) and then it disappears.  There is a 0 byte file created in the download directory with a short alphanumeric name that seems to bear no relationship to what was being downloaded - the time of creation is the only link.

Not at home currently (and so cannot see the screen in question)

[pcolbeck]

Sounds like it is downloading the file then something is buggering the file up. Probably your AV software or possibly a virus. Try disabling Mcaffee and see what happens.