Certain programs blocked; not firewall's fault

Are you using a hosts file? Look in windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

If it has lines similar to this

127.0.0.1 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com

where the xxx part has anything to do with Vuze, Moyea FLV downloader, or Amazon Unbox then that is the problem, delete those entries. As a test, you could rename hosts to hosts.save (or something similar).

Also, you said you disabled your firewall. Is this the built in Win 7 firewall or a different one. If different, is the Win 7 firewall still running? If so, try disabling it since you shouldn't have two running at the same time.

Command Prompt or the Run box.

notepad %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

I'm really sorry -- I'm not well-versed in editing codes and that sort of thing.

Even in my admin account (which I unlocked from Win 7, so it's the real one, not the fake proxy they "give you"), when I go to open the hosts file it tells me that it is a sample.

The "read-only" box is unchecked on both the folder and the hosts file itself. I don't know what else I'm screwing up on!

What am I doing wrong? Please help!

Thanks again for all of your patience and assistance!

Did you copy and paste the red text I gave you above? If so, and if there is an existing hosts file then it will open in Notepad and you can look at it. If not then it won't be found. A default hosts file will look like this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-2009 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
127.0.0.1 localhost

If that's what you have then the hosts file is not your problem.

How long has this problem been happening. You could try doing a System Restore to before that time, see if it fixes it.

How to do a System Restore