Try Safe mode "Alt+H" (Help) > "Restart with add-ons disabled..." then click on "'Continue in Safe Mode" do not check any of the items which would permanently change/delete your settings/history (in other words unsafe).

If it works then the problem is within Firefox extensions, settings, or theme. Adblock Plus, grease monkey, block site extensions could block google.com

If it doesn't work the possibly you hosts file is preventing access to google.com

Troubleshooting extensions and themes

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting%20extensions%20and%20themes

If that doesn't work, Close All Web Browsers (Firefox, IE , Opera, Safari, etc.)

-> Open My Computer -> go to Windows drive (C:\) -> Windows -> System32 -> drivers -> etc -> open hosts file in Notepad -> below the line 127.0.0.1 localhost , DELETE ALL LINES related to google.com -> Save the file and close it -> Now open Web Browsers

Check and tell if its working.

Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs.
You need to scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

• http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php - Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• http://www.superantispyware.com/ - SuperAntispyware
• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx - Windows Defender: Home Page
• http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html - Spybot Search & Destroy
• http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php - Ad-Aware Free

See also:

• "Spyware on Windows": http://kb.mozillazine.org/Popups_not_blocked
• https://support.mozilla.com/kb/Searches+are+redirected+to+another+site

If using the above listed scanners does not fix it or if you are blocked from installing those scanners then you may need to ask advice on one of the forums that specialize in malware removal mentioned in the Popups_not_blocked article.

Thanks for your replies, unfortunately restarting in safe mode and clearing the host file didn't solve the problem.

Are Google websites opening in your other browsers ?? check and tell ..

I can access google maps & google news. But I can't access google web or google mail in any browser.

What are the error messages you are receiving while trying to load access these websites ??

explorer's message is "cannot display webage' mozilla's message is "cannot establish connection to server at www.google.com"

when I run troubshooting diagnostics on my computer particular to accessing google the answer is: "The remote device or resource won't accept the connection"

No programs can load websites

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/No%20programs%20can%20load%20websites

Firefox cannot load websites but other programs can

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox%20cannot%20load%20websites%20but%20other%20programs%20can

Check and tell if its working.

Does it work if you use a secure connection (https://www.google.com/)?

• https://encrypted.google.com/
• https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin

I can get to google through https://encrypted.google.com Is there a way to get to gmail through that connection-- I have to use that for work.

Did you try starting with https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox

see this article: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=74765

If you can't read it at work try https:// in front instead of http;//

here are most of the points of the article:

1. Sign in to Gmail. (use https:// )
2. Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner, and select Mail settings.
3. In the General tab, set 'Browser Connection' to 'Always use https'
4. If you've never changed the setting before, no radio buttons will be selected, even though the default is indeed 'Always use https'.
5. Click Save Changes.

If you start with https:// you should have the same thing, I think the problem arises if you leave for another site.

https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox

When I use https://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox I get an error message that says "Firefox cannot establish a connection with www.google.com"

Firewalls

• https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firewalls

Firefox cannot connect securely because the SSL protocol is disabled

• http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Firefox%20cannot%20connect%20securely%20because%20the%20SSL%20protocol%20is%20disabled

Error loading websites

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Error_loading_websites

Check and tell if something works.

My firewalls are set to accept Mozilla and the SSL protocols are enabled. My computer cache is cleared, but I'll try to clear the server cache. I'll let you know if that works. Thanks for everyone's help!