MMO Launcher Connection Problems

I have a problem of my Vista with connecting to MMO's launchers such as LOTRO, WoW, Warhammer etc. and all other MMO's.

This problem started last year in 2009 January when a friend came over to fix a problem where my internet would disconnect every 10 minutes, and as soon as he resolved the problem, connecting to MMO's become another.

For example every time I attempt to connect to the LOTRO launcher it would just say something along the lines of "failed to connect" and would re-try in sixty seconds. I've been unable to play MMO'S for roughly a year now.

Im pretty sure Anti-Virus programs arn't the problem but perhaps they are, I'm not very good at this computers so perhaps you more experienced people can help me?

See if it works with clean boot
How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

Are there any risks with this such as in the long term? Does it delete programs? etc.

Thanks,

I never tell a poster what will happen, but only what should happen.
A clean boot is just a temporary stop to some startup programs. YOu merely uncheck them. To set it up again, you just check them, again.

That being said, no one as far as I know has ever had a problem with a clean boot. It is even suggested by Microsoft.