Firewall not allowing SSL/secure sites?

I just upgraded to Vista Business a few days ago. Today was the first time I
tried to access secure sites such as my bank website, Paypal, etc. When I
used IE7, the status bar would slowly creep until it was about 3/4 full and
then stop. When I used Firefox 2.0, the status bar would just hang at 1/2
full.

The browsers recognize the websites and sometimes I can even get the page
title to load, but for some reason, it is not accepting the secure
connection. I did some research and found out that it may be Windows Firewall
that is not allowing a loopback connection. Since the sites don't work on
either browser, I know it is not a browser specific issue. Also, these sites
work on XP machines so it is not a site specific issue.

Does anyone know where my problem is, or can anybody help me out?

Thanks,
-Rich