i will use firefox as a last resort if all else fails. does anybody know of any solutions?
ya, I was figuring that you're using IE....
My guess would be (since you've done other stuff that SHOULD have taken care of the problem...) that you have the settings wrong in your "Internet Zones" in MS "Internet Options."
0) Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options, select the "Security" tab.
1) Click on the "Internet" icon (world globe, left-most icon), then select the "Default Level" button (lower-right.)
[If only the "Custom" button is highlighted, you've made changes to the settings, so you might want to write them down or something before you reset them to defaults, as follows: Select the "Custom Level" button, then the "Reset" button, then "OK" out of those windows.]Now see if things work again.
(They WERE working "before," at some time in the past, yes?!?)