Vista - I have a problem with my internet connection and SmartFTP

Hope this is the right place to post this, and I hope I get more help here than I did at the SmartFTP forums.
For the last couple of days I have had a major problem with SmartFTP:
every single time I even just open Smart FTP my Internet connection dies. Kaput, gone completely until I restart both my computer and modem router.
It just seems to be the internet connection too, as far as I can tell it stays connected to the network, and it only kills the internet on my computer, the modem will still show the internet connection and the other networked computers still have internet access.

It may be sad that I'm keeping count, but over 3-4 days I have had to restart my computer 43 times because of this problem....and at over 4 minutes each time (slow work computer) that time wasted soon builds up.

The not so helpful people on the SmartFTP forum suggested that it was nothing to do with SmartFTP Now granted, we don't have the best Internet connection here however for it to work fine until I open Smart FTP and to have it suddenly stop working as soon as I do leads me to believe it's a Smart FTP thing. It doesn't matter if I open it as soon as my computer is restarted or after 20 minutes are perfectly fine Internet browsing/usage....the second SFTP is opened my internet is gone. It might not be SmartFTP's fault, but there is obviously something going wrong between it and my internet connection.

I've tried all of their suggestions....running it with no antivirus programs running, with no firewall running, with various things in the settings changed....all with no luck. It's also the latest version of the software.
I can't think of any changes I've made to the comp that would fit in with the timescale of when it started to go wrong...I haven't installed anything recently.

One of the other suggestions was to re-install Vista....at first I said I'd rather forget the $50 that the software cost and find a different one that did work than re-install Vista...I am actually considering it now even though it would waste another couple of days. I'd still rather not though...so does anyone here have any idea what could be causing this problem? or how to solve it?

(Oh, I don't know if this matters but the specs in my sig aren't for the computer I'm having problems on...they are: Vista Home Premium 32 bit, Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 @1.86Ghz, Intel Desktop Board DG965OT, 4 X 1GB Anenon DDR2 RAM, nVidia GeForce 7300 LE)

(And a side question (sort of): If I did want to re-install Vista, I have the re-install disc that came with this computer...however I'm guessing that would also re-install all the junk that the manufacturer puts on the computer. If I got my serial number from this computer and re-installed Vista using the OEM version I got when I built my home computer, would that work?)