I have windows 7 on my desktop. I'm not big on technology, so my answer may be fairly simple. I get an internet not available error on Internet Explorer and Goggle Chrome a lot. Especially after the computer has locked, but the internet is connected through an Ethernet cord. I'll have to close the browser and reopen it a couple times before it picks up the internet. Is this something to do with the OS or the internet provider I'm using?

Your Internet provider should be your first line of check at this point. One way to check is to ping a site.

Go to the start menu and, in the Run box type CMD. This will open a command Line prompt. At the command line type:

Ping yahoo.com

If it responds with 4 lines showing Ping times, then your Internet connection is up and the problem is probably your browser. If it doesn't then the problem is probably your connection and you need to contact your provider.

Sometimes the default setting on the network card is set to turn off the power to it when idle for an amount of time. Check to see if that could be the issue, if so you want to uncheck that option:
Information about power management setting on a network adapter

Quote:

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You can use Device Manager to change the power management settings for a network adapter. To disable this setting in Device Manager, expand Network Adapters, right-click the adapter, click Properties, click the Power Management tab, and then clear the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power check box.

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