There are many reasons why your internet connection or web-related Windows components might start misbehaving, and diagnosing the problem for yourself can be difficult. So it’s often easier not to try: just resetting a few key Windows settings could be enough to get your system working again.

Doing this manually isn’t always straightforward, either, but fortunately Complete Internet Repair offers a simpler alternative. Just choose the fix you’d like to try, click the Go! button and it’ll make the necessary tweaks for you.

In just a few moments the program can reset your TCP/IP, Winsock, Windows firewall and HOSTS file to their default settings, for instance. Other options attempt to fix a corrupt Windows Update configuration. And choosing “Repair Internet Explorer” will re-register all the DLLs and OCX files required by the browser, which may be enough to get a broken IE installation running again.

If you’re an old hand at Windows troubleshooting then you’ll know how to carry out some of these repairs already; Complete Internet Repair can release and renew your TCP/IP connections, for instance, but you could do the same thing (and with more control) from the command line tool IPCONFIG.

It’s certainly easier to apply these tweaks by clicking a few buttons, though. And Complete Internet Repair also includes many more complex fixes that aren’t so easy to carry out yourself, such as its ability to restore your SSL, HTTPS and Cryptography settings, perhaps useful if you find you can’t log in to secure websites.

You need to use the program with care, though, as some of its options may have undesirable side-effects. Choosing to Repair Winsock may break programs that have added their own network components to your system, for instance, forcing you to reinstall them before they’ll work properly again.

This may be a small price to pay if it restores a broken internet connection, of course, so you shouldn’t let it put you off trying the program altogether. Just be selective in the Complete Internet Repair fixes that you apply (don’t apply them all at once, for instance), and create a System Restore point before you begin, so you can easily restore your original system settings later, if necessary.