On 12/02/2019 21:20, micky wrote:
In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Tue, 12 Feb 2019 16:07:52 -0500, micky
wrote:

I'm using win7 on the laptop, but posting to win10 also because you guys
know things too!

The little window that opens from my systray icon says I'm connnected
and connected to the internet, and email and newsgroups work okay, but
neither Firefox nor Opera will load a webpage.

It gets as far as "Performing a TLS handshake with [the url].



In the systray is an image of 5 bars, getting taller to the right. My
recollection is that these used to be filled with a color when I was on
the net. Now they are only the outlines of the bars. Is my
recollection correct. What does it mean if there is only the outline?

It means you have a very weak signal and the connection speed is
therefore very low. Email and newsgroups work because they use only text
requiring a very small download whereas these days even the simplest
normal website is full of junk requiring a major download.

If you try a text only website it will probably work OK, such as
http://lite.cnn.io/en