Winsock is a specification that is used in Windows and it determines  how network applications communicate with network services, such as TCP/IP. It basically defines how two network programs will communicate with each other. For example, in order for an FTP client to work correctly, it uses Winsock.

However, Winsock can become corrupted on a Windows machine during the removal of spyware or adware. You may begin to get strange errors relating to Winsock or socket errors and basic commands such as IPCONFIG will not work correctly. You may also get errors like Page cannot be displayed when trying to browse the Internet.

In order to fix the Winsock error, you have to reset the entire TCP/IP protocol on your Windows computer. There are currently several ways you can try to fix the problem: using the command line, downloading a third party app, etc.
Winsock XP Fix

Winsock Fix is a freeware program that can be used as a last resort to fix your Internet connectivity problems. It will try to repair a corrupted Internet connection due to missing registry entries.

You can also back up the registry using the program, so it’s safe to use. The program is kind of old, so it may or may not actually work.

winsockfix
Reset TCP/IP Network Stack

The first thing to try if the above program does not work is to reset the TCP/IP network stack. Open the command prompt by going to Start, Run and typing in CMD. Now type the following command:

netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

This will basically rewrites two registry keys that are required for TCP/IP to work correctly. If