What to do when your computer won’t download anything

3 min. read

Updated on October 4, 2023

updated on October 4, 2023

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Are you having trouble because your computer won’t download anything? Worry not.

Billions of downloads happen almost down to the minute on a global scale. When you get to the point where your computer won’t download anything, even after you’ve tried all you know how to, frustration takes over, and you feel like replacing it with a new one.

Fortunately, there are solutions to fix this problem, and we share them in this article.

My PC won’t download anything: How do I fix that?

Create a new account
Reset Internet Explorer
Use Windows Defender
Check for malware

Solution 1: Create a new account

Here are the steps you can take to execute this:

Click Start
Select Settings
Select Accounts

Click Add someone else to this PC

Fill in the form with the user name and password. Your new user account will be created.
Click on Change account type

Click the drop down arrow and choose Administrator to set the account to administrator level

Restart your computer
Login to the new account you just created

Try downloading using the new account.

If this doesn’t work, try doing the following:

On your new account, use it to downgrade your usual account
Click Apply or Ok
Raise back your old account to its default admin level
Rinse and repeat a few times as this will help to remove any corruption
Leave your account on as Administrator

Check whether you can download from the newly created account. If they work, then there’s two things to do at this point:

Fix the old user account
Migrate to the new account

Solution 2: Reset Internet Explorer

If you have any antivirus, antispyware and security products on your computer, sometimes these cause issues whenever they’re uninstalled (or installed) as they leave traces or their file elements behind.

One thing to do when your computer won’t download anything is to reset Internet Explorer.

Here’s how to go about it:

Start Internet Explorer
Open Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box
Go to Tools menu
Click Internet options
Click Advanced tab
Click Reset or Restore Default
Under Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, click Reset
Click Close once Internet Explorer completes application of default settings
Exit then restart Internet Explorer

READ ALSO: Fix Slow Xbox One game downloads

Solution 3: Use Windows Defender

To use Windows Defender, follow these steps:

Go to the Search box
Type Windows Defender
Select Windows Defender from the list of search results
Click Scan now

The scanner will check or look for any issues within your computer on programs that may not look legit.

Solution 4: Check for malware

Here you can use a malware scanner to check for any malware infection. Update your malware remover, then use it only to scan for any such suspect files.

Sometimes it could be a BHO or Browse Helper Object, a plugin for Internet Explorer that enhances its capabilities. BHOs are usually abused by spyware programs to monitor and sometimes steal user identity and browsing habits silently, but also slow down your system.

To deal with this issue, get a BHO remover that will identify and remove any spy BHOs present in your computer’s system.

Let us know whether which solutions worked for you.

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