Windows 7: IM wont sign in and registration gets "Security Error"

I recently installed Windows 7 pro from MSDN on my newly built computer and I'm having a few internet related issues.



Both issues persisted after I disabled the windows firewall and Microsoft Security Essentials to see if that was the problem.

My Pidgin and MSN messengers refuse to sign in. Pidgin gives me "unable to validate certificate" error and MSN gives me its generic can't sign in message.

When I tried to activate my product key for Windows 7 online, it gave me a "security error" I forgot the exact error string because I have since successfully activated by phone.

How do I fix this? I have a feeling this same issue will also prevent some much needed windows updates...

If you can connect to the internet, you should be able to use MS Update. Make sure all your device drivers are in order before you start pulling the software apart.

What is MS update?
Also I have a feeling this is a driver issue, but what kind of driver would I need to update? I'm pretty sure I put everything in.

EDIT: I just tried to manually check for updates and got this: Code 80072F8F Windows Update encountered an unknown error.

EDIT2: Nevermind, I found the issue in what to me seems as the most unlikely spot, my date and time was off. Now that I'm no longer living in 2002 I signed into both messengers and its finally letting me download the windows updates >.>