mac won't connect to the internet

Seriously need help. my mac book is an old one, 2006 or 2007, and I have problems with the internet. I used to have a great connection, but then I went on vacation and came back 2 days later and was running at like 2 or 3 kilobytes per second as opposed to the 100 to 150 it usually runs. Then, two days later, the internet stopped working entirely. It was broken in both safari and firefox. at first i thought it was a virus, but it worked fine on all other programs. I then thought it was because it I had too much stuff in my hard drive, so I deleted all the junk and ended up with nothing but firefox, itunes and finder. The internet then worked for 1 night and then shut off again. It says that it has full signal strength on the airport menu, but every time I try to load a page, the bars and items are still there, but the page is blank and endlessly says it is loading, but never does. I can't take it in to the mac shop because the screen is broken and I have to have it hooked up to a tv via hdmi, so I can't take it anywhere. Also, system preferences does not work. any help, suggestions, anything? I am on my brothers computer and it works fine. So please help!

Just a guess, but have you recently downloaded any pirated software? Installed any media player "plug-ins" when visiting, let's say, less than reputable web sites?

Have you had in from new or are you 'another owner' - if it is used did u instal a new OS. Might be worth doing a back up and a clean instal then re evaluate.

I bought it new, and I don't have any viruses because all other programs work fine. the only things that I downloaded close enough before hand were planeshift ( free mmorpg for macs) and I tried to install a crossovergames trial. but bot of those files are deleted. Is there a setting I can change because I doubt the problem is with my OS. also, I think I lost the original software.

adamator said:

I bought it new, and I don't have any viruses because all other programs work fine. the only things that I downloaded close enough before hand were planeshift ( free mmorpg for macs) and I tried to install a crossovergames trial. but bot of those files are deleted. Is there a setting I can change because I doubt the problem is with my OS. also, I think I lost the original software.

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Well, if you want to eliminate a settings issue, the easiest thing to do would be to create a test account (System Preferences => Accounts). Then, log in with that account and see if the problem persists. If it does, then you know it's either hardware or OS.

now even system preferences won't work, it worked after I deleted most of my stuff, is it in a folder, because I can't find system preferences. also, can it even be deleted?