mac min won' t connect to yahoo

There are a number of possible explanations, but it would have helped to have given us more detailed information, such as did yahoo work before you upgraded to Snow Leopard and which browser you are using (Safari, Firefox, etc?) -- rather telling us that you are "appalled"

The folks who answer questions on this forum are just regular Mac users, not Apple employees. So "attitude" won't buy you much free help here.

Assuming you are using Safari as your web browser, I'd suggest using the "Safari" menu to "Reset cache ..."

Additionally, since this sounds like a name resolution or routing issue, I'd type in the full correct name of yahoo in the address bar of your browser -- namely www.yahoo.com -- and not yahoo or yahoo.com -- or use this link:

http://www.yahoo.com

If that doesn't work, try using the IP address of www.yahoo.com, namely:

http://209.131.36.158/

If none of this works, please report back with fuller information about what browsers you are using and whether yahoo worked before your upgrade to Snow Leopard.

I can't help but wonder if you have some filtering being done by your router. But assuming for the moment that the router is "plain vanilla", I'd suggest restarting all your internet gear.

First shut down all computers. Then power off all the routers and your DSL or cable modem. Then after a minute or two, first power up the DSL or cable modem. Wait five minutes and power up the router closest to the the modem. If there are other routers, power them up in similar order, with a respectful wait in between. Then start up your computers.

One thing that isn't clear from your post is whether you bought your Mini from Apple, or whether it was used from a "third party". If used, then it is possible that the previous owner may have customized its configuration. For example, are there different DNS servers listed in System Preferences > Network than the ones used by your current ISP?

I think I would take the Mini to the Apple store and see if it can connect to yahoo at the store -- or go to a friends house. If it can, then the problem would seem to be some incompatibility with your ISP or how your network hardware is set up.

If it can't, then something likely went fubar when you installed the Snow Leopard upgrade without first going through the regular Leopard first start up initialization. In that case, I would be inclined to wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install from the discs that shipped with the Mini.

I personally have a very complicated hardware routing set-up, and I can recall maybe two occasions in the past when I could not reach an internet site with my Mini. Generally the solution had to do with clearing out the routing tables in as much of the equipment as possible.