Minimum services needed for internet access?

I'm wondering which minimum services are required for internet access, and also how those should be filtered. svchost.exe I'd suppose, my browser (Firefox), the proxy as I understand (though do I have one? I'm only behind a wired router). Nearly everything I find on the web assumes a Network setup. I'm just one person with one computer, but despite having the router and having tried four major AV\firewalls (the previous three having eventually been hijacked) I've had, according to TCPview, many services which have had no business connecting to the frequently malicious sites which they did. And of course lots of Listening, especially by System (which I've read is System Idle Process, but since it is named as it is, as compared to simply System, that seems quite unlikely). Also many connections by svchost.exe obviously. I've also read on some security forums that Listening ports are being held open for malware. At least part of my problem in the end was very clearly a bunch of rogue system files, which none of my scans ever caught. I've just begun trying Vipre, but it takes so long to start up that plenty gets under its firewall before it begins.

I'm sure that a lot of this just reveals my ignorance, but I recently, for the first time ever, got over a very difficult infection (in spite of going through the removal drill on three forums, each time being pronounced clean in the end), I ended up just buying a new PC, I'd had enough -- somehow even clean installs didn't fix things, before even connecting to the web or plugging in external drives.

I believe that I've always practiced safe surfing, but now at last I have a fresh start, and hope to keep it that way! Well, at least I've learned a LOT about computers, but with the inevitable gaps in that knowledge.

Thanks for any advice!
papilio

Take a serious look at Microsoft MSE. People are raving about it and it's free from Microsoft.