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I actually got the thing fixed finally.
Apparently I had a virus called Gaobot that blocked Norton and access to Symantec.com. I was finally able to get a copy of the newest security updates and run NAV in safemode. 5 days online without an antivirus netted me 97 infected files by 5 different viruses. Jesus.
I had a process running csmss.exe that I had never seen before and was furiously pinging out to the internet. I used Hijack This! to fix the log and then deleted the .exe. Afterwards, I was not able to access certain Symantec sites or do a LiveUpdate!. I did a search for the Hosts file as mention in previous posts, deleted the list of anti-virus sites, and now my problem is solved thanks to this forum.
Thank you all.
:confused: I have exactly the same problem, but do not have msawindows.exe running. I'm about to follow some of the advice in this thread. I'll let you know how I make out.
-Brian