Much thanks to everyone, for your help and wisdom. I greatly appreciate it.

To answer some of your questions...

I disconnected/re-connected to the net, but I haven't seen that same connection yet. However, whenever I do a netstat -an /o, I get the following:

Code:
Proto  Local Address          Foreign Address        State          PID
TCP    0.0.0.0:135              0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       708
TCP    0.0.0.0:445              0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       4
TCP    0.0.0.0:1025            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       764
TCP    0.0.0.0:1028            0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       4
TCP    127.0.0.1:1027        0.0.0.0:0              LISTENING       1612
UDP    0.0.0.0:445             *:*                                               4
UDP    0.0.0.0:500             *:*                                               496
UDP    0.0.0.0:1030           *:*                                               932
UDP    0.0.0.0:1035           *:*                                               932
UDP    127.0.0.1:1029       *:*                                               876
I don't know if the above is normal for an XP machine or not(?).

I also did a comprehensive virus scan (with current definitions/updates), and manual search for unusual files, but yielded no results.

I also checked for any unusual accounts, and found nothing. Guest and Admin accounts are also password protected. All of my other security settings are properly configured too (as far as i know)...such as restricted anonymous logins, restricted sam access, etc, etc...

I also don't use any p2p or download/use any weird progs from the net or anywhere else.

I'm thinking of just taking Tedob1's advice, but it sure would be nice if I didn't have to resort to that.