I appear to be connected to the internet, but internet doesn't work

I've read a few posts about this problem before but it was either a slightly different problem than mine or people suggested what the problem could be, not a solution.

I am running Windows Vista 64bit (the worst possible combination, I know) on a HP HDX 16 laptop. It appears to be connected to the network, and the internet, but when I try to browse the web my browser complains that all pages "are not available", and any software I try to update, doesn't.

ipconfig says nothing is connected, though it shows I have an IP address.

I tried ipconfig/release+renew but it didn't work. After that I tried netsh winsock reset, rebooted the laptop and still nothing.

What course of action can I take now?

To set Google's DNS servers, open a CMD Prompt and paste these lines in, one at a time:

netsh int ipv4 add dnsservers "Local Area Connection" 8.8.8.8 index=1
netsh int ipv4 add dnsservers "Local Area Connection" 8.8.4.4 index=2

For wifi, try:

netsh int ipv4 add dnsservers "Wireless Network Connection" 8.8.8.8 index=1
netsh int ipv4 add dnsservers "Wireless Network Connection" 8.8.4.4 index=2

This is assuming that the network adaptors are using the default names, which you can find on the Networking tab of Task Manager.

For the GUI method, try this. Step 6 is the relevant part.