Windows 7 64-bit connection issues

Hi,

I recently purchased a new computer and installed Windows 7. My copy of 7 is an upgrade disc (used on my old computer which had XP), so I first tried the methods detailed here (first the registry modification, then the double-install). Neither worked, so I called tech support, got the confirmation ID and activated it fine. However, my issue is that only specifically 64-bit applications can connect to the internet - Internet Explorer 8 64-bit and Teamspeak 3 64-bit both work perfectly, whereas Chrome, Firefox, Steam, various games etc cannot.

Any ideas?

EDIT: Oh yeah, if I boot Linux on the same computer it works just fine.

This makes no sense. All 32bit programs will work perfectly under Windows 7 64. How exactly do you connect to the internet? Are their any specific error messages from the programs that won't connect?

Computer has a wired connection to the router (Linksys WRT54GL, running recent Gargoyle firmware), which is connected to the modem.

No error messages; IE8 just says "Internet explorer cannot display the webpage", with the option to use the Network Diagnostics tool.

Google Chrome: "This web page is not available.

The web page at http://www.google.com/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address."

Steam and games just give generic "could not connect" messages.

Sorry, I wasn't clear - that was my previous computer, and it was a new installation.

My issue is with my new computer - I was only mentioning that to explain why I had to try the "double install" to activate.

The new computer computer worked fine for about a week before I did that.

Yes, I do.

Also, I have seen this problem when your local DNS service has a problem. Try setting your DNS addresses manually to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4 (this below to Google and are publicly accessible).

Cool, glad to hear it. Very odd bug, this.