solution was one of the netsh commands.
netsh winsock reset catalog
netsh int reset all
netsh ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
some other symptoms of the problem I was able to find.. that may help diagnose the same problem
Besides, when trying to do \compblah
"\compblah is not accessible.
You might not have permission to ue this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.
Multiple connections to a server or shared resource by the same user, using more than one user name, are not allowd. Disconnect all previous connections to the server or shared resource and try again""
net view \computername
net use Z: \computername\sharename
net view. Gave.error 5 (apparently there are various error 5 messages one can get. I know I got error 5 though)
net use Gave error 53
I didn't jot the text of them down at the time and it's fine now so I can't see what they were. But now
net view \computername
net use \computername
both don't give errors.
The netsh commands(one some or all of them) fixed it.
a good site is michna's http://winhlp.com/wxnet.htm
though I do suggest still if solving it from that, putting the ans here too so it's not just on one site!
Another symptom of the problem, which is now cleared up, is sysinternals psloggedon, gave an error.. "Error opening HKEY_USERS for \compblah ...Unable to query resource logons "
that is now fine.
apparently many "assymetrical problems" can be FW or 3rd party FW or remnants of, but not in this case since I don't have 3rd party FW. Win FW with exceptions put in,was fine.
net use * /D (clearing the cache helped in my testing) appaerntly it can get rid of shares.. but my shared folders seem fine after it. IT was a useful command 'cos it meant that if I logged on successfully as say Guest(not really what I want), then it wouldn't keep going in automatically as it, it would prompt again. so that just helped a bit in testing things.
there is
LSP Fix and WinsockXPFix from
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm
(can also check softpedia and/or majorgeeks for them) though if they touch the registry and are for xp it maybe isn't a good idea to try them in later windows versions..
though I didn't try them..
as mentioned, solution was
netsh winsock reset catalog
netsh int reset
netsh ip reset resetlog.txt
and if any of those, it was probably the first one of those 3 commands that solved it.
Added
The famous "hanselman" has (or had) a blog post called
The Nuclear Option: Resetting The Crap Out Of Your Network Adapters
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheNuclearOptionResettingTheCrapOutOfYourNetworkAdaptersInVista.aspx
https://web.archive.org/web/20150329031816/http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheNuclearOptionResettingTheCrapOutOfYourNetworkAdaptersInVista.aspx
,
which has some commands that helped.
ipconfig /flushdns
nbtstat -R
nbtstat -RR
netsh int reset all
netsh int ip reset
netsh int ipv4 reset
netsh int ipv6 reset
netsh winsock reset
and try the commands I mentioned earlier too (I think they worked well for XP, no harm in trying them in later windows versions)
netsh winsock reset catalog
netsh int reset all
netsh ip reset c:\resetlog.txt
Also, bleepingcomputer has a windows all in one repair, and there's two tools called "far bar" by/(or at least from the site) bleeping computer that may help
Best Answer
I figured out that the problem was due to the service "Application Information" was stopped. When I started it, it worked. :-)