Internet not working after malware recovery

Hi,

I just posted in the malware forum about a problem that prevented me from rebooting, which is linked below.
http://www.windowsbbs.com/malware-v...e-viruses-trojans-now-cannot-boot-xp-all.html

I managed to ***** up the computer so badly that I decided to use my Lenovo T61's Rescue and Recovery program to restore to an earlier save point nine months ago. After doing so, I was stuck with the login/logout loop and followed the steps at Thinking In Pixels.
http://thinkinginpixels.com/quick-fixes/fix-windows-xp-log-onlog-off-loop/

This appeared to work but since finishing all the steps and loading up the antimalware, antivirus and Comodo firewall, I have been unable to connect to the internet using Firefox, which I installed as the ThinkinginPixels steps suggested.

I previously ran Internet Explorer but it does not appear to even fully load enough to try a web address.

I ran the IPConfig commands and also successfully pinged several web sites and my own DNS and IP.

I'm running XP Pro SP2 and am using a Cisco Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router, which up until the crash worked to share the Comcast cable service between the two laptops in my household.

As far as I can tell, my laptop connects to the wireless router but does not allow me to access anything on the internet. Attempts to update the antivirus and Antimalware also fail. Could the Firewall be preventing this? I tried disabling Windows Firewall since I have activated the Comodo one. I also tried to ensure Comodo recognized Firefox as a safe application.

I tried using the Networking troubleshooting -- it suggested checking for duplicate winsock files. I only have one copy of winsock.dll on my computer, but the windows search failed to find winsock32.dll, wsock.vxd and wsock32.vxd files -- could that be related?

After a full five days of working out the problems with my PC, I'm pretty desperate to learn of a solution to this and so would greatly appreciate any help anyone can offer.

Many thanks.