Cannot use IE or Firefox anymore on Vista after Update

Hi,

About 2 months ago, I remember that there was a Windows Update that was autorun on my system. I remember ever since my IE or Firefox never worked. I've been deprived of the web since. I never related this to the Updates as they were MS recommended. I worked around by setting up RHEL dual boot. That works great. But thats not a solution I expect unless Windows is de-marketing Vista.
I recently read an article that said that system updates can misconfigure the browser settings. This reinforced my assumption. Note: I have already tried all workarounds of Reset IE, Safe-Mode with Networking, 4 different browsers, even re-installation of IE/Firefox, etc ... and nothing works. And I, in fact, do remember that the update was run minutes before the browsers stopped responding.
I know the typical solution: System Restore.... of course. But this happened 2 months ago, and the latest system restore date is 10 days ago.

PLEH !!!

- DVA

What antivirus do you use? Try uninstalling antivirus SW and then reset winsock -
Click on Start button.
Type Cmd in the Start Search text box.
Press Ctrl-Shift-Enter keyboard shortcut to run command prompt as administrator.
Type netsh winsock reset in command prompt and press enter.
Restart the computer.
If it still does not work open again command prompt as administrator and type netsh int ip reset.
Hope it will help.

Thanks for the reply Nikolina.
(i) I had deinstalled Norton AW a long time ago after I ran out of subscription.
(ii) Tried both the commands. They appeared to work initially as the browser would just just wait on load for a minute. But then it would popup the same - IE cannot display web page - error. I do not have any firewall setup, and also every other application, that connects to other ports work like a charm.
One thing to report when running command as Administrator:
> netsh int ip reset
Resetting Echo Request, failed!!!
Access is denied.
Resetting Interface, ok!!!
Reboot required ...
Of course, the browsers do not work even after reboot.
Note: Other applications like Veoh TV player, etc that connect to google, yahoo search engines also fail. Independent tools like SopCast work fine.

I was going to switch to older stable OS when my Spring Semester ends, but this issue is giving me a lot of problems close to my exams. So appreciate any quick assistance/solution.

-DVA

Did you deinstall Norton with norton removal tool? If not please do to remove anything left by Norton on your system (tool available on Norton web site).
Check if proxy is enabled in tools/options
Check if your antivirus is well configured to access internet (disable it to make a test).