Note: blue sections contain the critical information.Background:I recently set up a 3 mbps DSL connection with AT&T on a machine running XP Pro SP2. Connection is slow (~700 kbps) but otherwise works fine. Connected via a Creative Broadxent modem with a line directly into my machine. My machine contracted an intense virus, or possibly it just went active after removing a router/firewall from my network setup. I have a fair amount of experience eliminating viruses through complex solutions and this one was just too insane (prevented installation of new programs by melting their EXEs, halted antivirus/antispyware software by crashing Windows services, tried to take over Windows services, turned off and kept off automatic updates, crashed manual updates, prevented installation of Hijack This, crashed web-based virus scans, and prevented booting in safe mode). I do not have copies of XP any longer. I gave up and decided I would start fresh with a new OS.Issue:I installed Vista Business (32bit ). I was anticipating problems with my AT&T DSL connectivity software since their site informs users that the current software will not work with Vista. New connectivity software is due to be released on March 15. Their current workaround is to set up a dial-up connection on Vista. This is not a workaround to me. First I attempted to install the AT&T software anyway. Vista detected prior to install that the software was having problems and asked if I wanted Vista to help the installation out (quite friendly for Microsoft). The software installs but cannot find a connection (all lights solid green on my modem). I tried creating a manual connection with my AT&T account information. This connection gets to the account verification step and then fails.Solution?My next step is obviously to call AT&T and see if they can help me set up a manual connection. However, from what I've been reading about recent DSL/Vista issues my guess is that tech support there will most likely have no idea how to help and will simply recommend that I try connecting via dial-up until March 15.Has anyone encountered anything similar? Can anyone provide steps for setting up a DSL connection manually with AT&T on Windows Vista?

I forgot to mention that my next step before calling AT&T was to simply try putting a router between the PC and DSL modem. I just had to borrow a network cable from a guy at work. The connection is PPPoE, so I'm hoping this will work.

You do realize I hope that there's absolutely no reason to use the AT&T connection software in either windows XP or Windows Vista. The connection software provided PPPoE support in older operating systems. Since XP, this has been built into windows. As such, you should be able to hook the modem directly to the PC and configure your connection from Windows network setup wizard.

I had the same problem. When I disabled the software firewall on both machines I was able to see all the computers and access the shared directories. Then at least I had a working model and a broken model which made it much easier to diagnose the problem. Adding the IP address to my trusted list on the software firewall (zone alarm in my case) solved my issue. Good Luck! Sam