I saw another thread on the same topic about a month ago but it seems to have died without being resolved. 

I have a Windows 8.1 machine. About 5 days ago desktop applications (Chrome, desktop IE, Google Drive) stopped being able to access the Internet at all.

However, Metro apps (Metro IE, Facebook, Mail, etc) still can access the Internet.

How could this happen? Do the two environments use separate settings? Is there a setting or registry entry that only applies to the desktop environment?

Malware and virus scans (Malwarebytes and Windows Defender respectively) have not been able to come up with anything. But since they're both desktop applications they haven't been able to update their signature files since this problem started.

Found the answer at this thread https: // social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/9157dfe0-58bf-4b16-aeaf-fdbd97b5acd4/windows-8-desktop-mode-apps-have-no-access-to-internet?forum=w8itprogeneral

(sorry for the non-linking link, the forum won't let me post active hyperlinks until my ID is verified and I don't know how to verify my ID).

The solution is to reset Winsock using this command from an Administrator command prompt: "netsh winsock reset" then reboot.

• Marked as answer by W. W. Mayfield 19 hours 52 minutes ago

Found the answer at this thread https: // social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/9157dfe0-58bf-4b16-aeaf-fdbd97b5acd4/windows-8-desktop-mode-apps-have-no-access-to-internet?forum=w8itprogeneral

(sorry for the non-linking link, the forum won't let me post active hyperlinks until my ID is verified and I don't know how to verify my ID).

The solution is to reset Winsock using this command from an Administrator command prompt: "netsh winsock reset" then reboot.

• Marked as answer by W. W. Mayfield Thursday, August 20, 2015 11:33 AM