Computer help - Can't access passworded sites

[deathridethenailer]

Hello all. I am trying to help my (older)Dad trouble shoot a computer problem over the phone and I am at a lose.

Problem:
He can't log in to secure sites with a password screen. He has tried several different secure sites (banking, comcast, forums). He says he gets to the login screen, puts his username and then passowrd and clicks the button and the site just times out. I could see one site or a family of sites having a problem but this is on multiple unrelated sites which dictates it's his machine. He say he also can't receive emails, he can send emails and people get them but he can't receive them into outlook express. He can surf the web normally.

He is running XP
No router, Cable modem single computer HP home system
He says he has tried uninstalling his AV(nortons) and reinstalling it. He says he has run all his AV and spyware stuff with nothing detected.
He says( and I know you never believe them when they say this) that he has not changed anything or done any updates for a couple weeks before this happened. Since when he has run his updates.

Any suggestion on where to start looking?

 

[Nenu]

Have you tried a different browser?

 

[devman]

Check to make sure the date/time is set correctly in windows.

 

[CommanderFrank]

Try going into internet tools > internet options >security > and check the security level

 

[deathridethenailer]

The good news:
Finally drove over to his house and took a look first hand. All settings for Privacy and cookies seemed normal. What I finally found was that after an automatic update from Mcafee the AV program locked down Port 25(SMTP) and 443(SSL). After unblocking these everything was GTG.

The bad news:
After getting there he told me that he figured it was time to upgrade anyways so he went to Ciruit City the night before and bought a new HP...(shakes head). I asked where it was and he said he'll pick it up in a few days because....... he was so happy that he was slick enough to get them to do there $40 setup service for him (puts head in hands and cries) and it will take that long.

Anyways thanks for the input guys.