A few days ago I updated my Windows 8 Pro (which was working perfectly fine) to Windows 8.1 Pro. After doing so, my Desktop Applications stopped working. Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, uTorrent do not connect to the internet at all now. However, My emails work perfectly, Google Earth works, and when I access Internet Explorer from the Start menu/apps, that works perfectly.  I have been trying many troubleshooting and diagnostics from Windows but no luck.  I even tried creating a new user on the laptop but same problem occurs. I am connected to the internet via Wi-Fi.  Please assist as this is urgent.

• Edited by Akesh78 Wednesday, December 24, 2014 4:56 PM

sounds like your desktop apps have shortcuts created that are no longer valid, try using the search to find the applications and create new shortcuts on your desktop using "open file location" right click and create a desktop shortcut.

go to "Start screen" start typing "chrome" if it's installed it should bring it up right click and pin to task, pint to start menu, or open file location to manually create shortcut elsewhere.

Did you have a 3rd party antivirus package installed before the upgrade?  If so, it's possible its installation is no longer compatible with Windows 8.1.  Try removing it and once you've regained Internet connectivity download a fresh copy to install that's said to work with Windows 8.1.

Note that some anti-malware packages have specialized uninstallers (I know Avast has a special AvastClear program, for example).

 

Desktop shortcut icon are not available  longer try to create new shortcut form start menu apps or ping to task 

I don't think so, I have even reinstalled uTorrent, and removed internet explorer from the add & remove apps in control panel, and then reinstalled it but still the same issues. Also after the update when IE stopped working, I downloaded Chrome to see if that works but still nothing, so don't think it could be a shortcut issue. I have been running the Windows Defender all this time, only after updating to Windows 8.1 I had installed AVG Free Edition, thought that might help resolve the issue, but still nothing. What I had ended up doing was reinstalling Windows 8, which was an annoying task. All seems ok now, internet seems to work, for now. Thanks for your help though, appreciate it.

It sounds as though you may have a proxy enabled for use by these apps. You should check the Connections tab of Internet Options LAN Settings and make sure that all three checkboxes are clear.

Brandon
Windows Outreach Team- IT Pro
Windows for IT Pros on TechNet