Contacting DLink customer service - what a joke.
A few random windows network repair tools, but I'm not sure which ones.Various Malware removal programs and guides: AVG, MalwareBytes, ADWCleaner, and HitmanPro.Pinging DNS server - during one of the internet drops, the ping continued as normal.Various browser clearing: clearing cache, history, browsing data, cookies, etc.Various ipconfig commands: release, renew, flushdns.
Upgrading from windows 7 to windows 10: it didn't work, so I downgraded back to 7.Using a new router from a different company (Linksys as opposed to DLink).The other computers have returned to being normal after about a week, however, my desktop and laptop are still having the issue. The signs seemed to point pretty strongly to a virus, however, none of the virus programs we used found anything (more on that later). I was suspicious that the problem was somehow spreading by ethernet, so I tested it directly: Another desktop was working fine, I plugged its ethernet into my laptop and back into the desktop, then it started having the same issue as well.
I tested my laptop using the ethernet cable of a working desktop downstairs the problem isn't fixed, and now that desktop is having the issue as well. I tested my laptop which has been off and unused for many months wireless didn't work, so I used my desktop's ethernet cable - and it now has the same issue as the desktop. At first only my desktop was broken and all other computers in the house worked fine.
It was a pretty hectic day, and there wasn't a huge pattern in what we found, so we ended up assuming that the tests were inconclusive and that the behavior was random, but here are the findings anyway:
I have been having some pretty annoying internet problems for about two weeks now.