Sounds more like a Winsock LSP issue. This normally happens after removing spyware that scewes up your computer after uninstall. Damn spyware writres do this in "revenge" for deleteing this spyware.
You could have fixed with Microsoft AntiSpyware itself using Tools > Advanced Tools > System Explorers > Winsock LSPs.
Or LSP Fix of course from:
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm
__________________
Ad Muncher Usage Statistics for v4.7 Build 27105/1624
Adverts removed by Ad Muncher: 1,601,933
Approximate bandwidth saved: 12,515 MB
Counter started: April 2, 2003
Download:
http://war59312.admuncher.com/download.shtml