Well, apparently there are certain malware products that can modify or corrupt Winsock settings in windows upon their removal.

Essentially, problem was I could connect to the network, ping all machines, but couldn't use tcp/ip protocol. I could use AOL and it would connect. Also a couple other things would connect...but browsers would not work at all (even in AOL...so the service worked but you couldn't then use the net browser)

Long story short, if it happens to you, theres a fix entitled, oddly enough, winsockfix.exe that works like a charm. Once applied, all worked well enough for me to d/l McAfee, Adware Away, AdAware SE and Spybot S&D. Several dozen virii, hijackers and trojans later...I had a clean laptop and a stern warning for my daughter on the evils of clicking banner ads.