Solved ERR_CONNECTION_ERROR

For the past few days, after a period of inactivity, I get this message when trying to access the internet with Edge. It's never happened while I've been actively using the PC, only after I've been away for a while. This is the weirdest thing because I'm definitely connected, I can ping websites and some websites do open.
The troubleshooter doesn't see a problem because I am connected.
I've tried resetting the network adapters. I've manually set a DNS server. I'm connected by ethernet and switching to wifi doesn't help.
I've tried using Firefox. FF doesn't show any error but when I try to open a website, nothing happens but, like with Edge, some sites do open. As I'm typing this I've realised that the sites that have opened are Google sites, Youtube, my Workspaces Admin and others.
I've run DISM CheckHealth, ScanHealth and RepairHealth. I've run System File Check.
I've run a virus scan with Bitdefender.
I've cleared the browser's cache and tried a private window.
I thought it might have been related to my VPN app as I've had problems in the past so I uninstalled it.
I've flushed, released and renewed DNS.
The only thing I found that fixes it, is to reboot.
This is a huge PITA and I'm out of ideas so I'm hoping that someone has an idea and can assist.
Thanks.

Open the command prompt with administrative privileges and execute netsh winsock reset command to reset the Winsock catalog, which is a database of network settings, where incorrect configurations and malware affect your network connectivity.

Yeah...already tried that. I've tried so many things I can't remember them all.
I found a thread somewhere where a person had the same issue, only Google sites would open and he suggested disabling WMM on the router. I've done that so I'll just have to wait and see.

Execute netsh int ip reset command to reset TCP/IP to help restore Windows internet settings back to their default state.

Disabling WMM didn't fix it. I have Facebook installed as an app and if that's open when the problem kicks in, I can still use it. External links don't work but links to other Facebook pages do.
I've run many web searches looking for a fix with no luck. If it happens again, I think I'll have no choice but to reinstall Windows

After trying a few more things unsuccessfully, I reinstalled Windows and now everything's working as it should.