Hey Cgkanchi

Thanx! I've 'pinged'.
The result was this and I guess it means that my ping was not successful.

Pinging avatw.search.yahoo2.akadns.net [216.155.220.155] with 32 bytes of data:
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Ping statistics for 216.155.200.155:
Packers: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss)

So, I guess we're into one of those other issues you referred to.
As suggested, I've also posted the contents of my C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file
Comments?

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 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

127.0.0.1 localhost