D'oh! Technical question re: MS Networking

[kv]

Sorry, this is a long post, but I've somehow lost my ability to connect to remote shares, or even connect to remote systems on a network. When attempting to map a connection, whether by IP address or system name, I get an error saying that the system could not be found (even when I select one of the previous mappings that shows up in the dropdown box that previously worked).

I can browse my local workgroup at work through my network connections, but I can no longer view systems on our domain (to which I am not connected) like I used to. Even when I find a system on our local workgroup, it still tells me that it cannot locate the system when I try to connect to a share. Grrrrr. Systems are visible to me on the network, because I can ping them and my network scanner can detect them and pull down workstation/server information.

I know this is something I've done to myself, due to some reckless tweaking. I've been using the WinGuides tweak manager in the past to play around with settings related to networking (in an attempt to optimize performance) and have also played around with a few manual registry tweaks. Problem is that I didn't notice the problem until the last few days, so I'm not sure of at what point I messed up my MS networking ability.

The strange part is that the persistent connections I created in the past for a couple of shares on my network still work flawlessly. I just can't create new connections...?

And I've ruled out other issues like personal firewall etc., I'm virus free, trojan free and like I said, I was tweaking my registry so I know I was playing with fire...

Anyways, I know I'm going to have to roll-up my sleeves and try and figure out what I did by backtracking, but if anyone has some insight or advice as to where I should check, it would be very greatly appreciated...!

Thanks,
KV

[10ECsoon]

Well, KV - a dandy one indeed.
If the registry teaks were manual, do remember them to undo them? Also, if you're having domain problems, the first place I look is DNS settings on the local machine, and the second is the host records on the DC.
Of course I'm probably telling you nothing you don't already know, but I lost count of the times overlooking the obvious caused me unneeded headaches!

What kind of tweaks does the Winguides manager do exactly?

[kv]

I agree with overlooking the obvious, I once spent an hour re-installing drivers and scanning my notebook when my external mouse stopped working, only to realize I hadn't plugged it in tightly enough on the USB connector. That's a story I don't like to share often...

The Winguides tweak manager is a utility for automating the registry tweaks on their registry tweaking site , which is a very cool resource. I'm constantly frustrated by delays in accessing shares or browsing remote computers on our corporate network, so I'm constantly trying tweaks related to network settings, maybe a little too agressively...

Oh well, lesson learned. I'll just try and backtrack and reverse the damage...!

Cheers,
KV