[MacDV] Internet Kills Mac Apps

[Steve Robertson]

This doesn't have anything to do with video, but this is the largest 
group of Mac experts I can contact easily.

A friend of mine bought an old Powerbook from me. It runs OS 9.2.2 and 
is connected to the Internet by a cable modem. About a week ago, the 
cable company suffered some extensive storm damage. When the cable 
service returned, my friend found that she could not open the two 
pieces of software she uses most of the time – Internet Explorer and 
Outlook Express.

After doing some exploring, I found that any software that relies on 
the Internet would not open. In other words, Netscape Communicator 
behaves exactly like the Microsoft products. They put up a splash 
screen, then just disappear. No dialog box. Any software that does NOT 
rely on the Internet opens and works fine.

The control panels that relate to the Internet will open and have all 
the correct info entered. I even tried switching to the basic control 
panels. No help. The cable company is coming today to make sure the 
cable modem is working properly, but I can't imagine any way that a bad 
cable box could kill software like this.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve R.