I can't get online
If the registry keys that pertain to Winsock (Windows Sockets) become damaged or corrupt, you might get error messages when attempting to use Winsock programs such as Internet Explorer, and you might not be able to obtain an IP address or be unable to release and renew your IP address.
Most of the Internet connectivity problems arise out of corrupt Winsock settings. Windows sockets settings may get corrupted due to a networking software installation, spyware. You may notice errors such as "Page cannot be displayed" or similar, in Internet Explorer. You will be able connect to the Internet, but the packets won't transfer back and forth. One of the main cause for these problems is the corruption of Winsock settings. In any case, you may use these methods to repair/reset the Windows Sockets settings to defaults.
Here is some articles to help
How to determine and recover from Winsock2 corruption
Error message : An operation was attempted on something that is not a socket
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/winsockxpfix.html
Some simpler helps
netsh winsock reset catalog
This command resets the Winsock catalog to the default configuration. This can be useful if a malformed LSP is installed that results in loss of network connectivity. While use of this command can restore network connectivity, it should be used with care because any previously-installed LSPs will need to be re-installed.