IE won't connect to Internet unless AOL is on

Hello,

Background: I have three computers networked to a cable modem for shared internet access. All three computers run Windows XP Home Edition. This setup has worked fine for years and we could routinely access the interet via AOL, Interet Exporer (v 7) or both at the same time. Several days ago, however, I discovered that I could not access the internet on either client computer with Internet Explorer UNLESS I was connected and signed on to AOL. (The main host computer is just fine).

Thinking that my IE files might have been corrupted I reset them to their orginal state. That did not work. So I downloaded a fresh version of Firefox and installed it. Same problem. Could not connect to the Internet on either client with Firefox alone. But was successful using Firefox only after connecting and signing in to AOL.

My Network Diagnosis program points me to network adaptor problems but that doesn't seem to make sense as I do get internet connectivity provided AOL is turned on, connected and signed on (AOL is included in my startup files).

The only other thing I can think of is firewall/anti-virus related. I had recently made some changes on all three machines when AOL/MacAffee anti-virus sent me messages about upgrades and that my computer was not fully protected. However, I disconnected my MacAffee and Firewalls and that did not help. Maybe I should REMOVE these programs and all my anti-spywares. Or maybe I have a virus but I have run MacAffee, Ad-Aware, Spybot Searach and Destroy and SpySweeper and found no problems.

I am very leary of removing AOL as it seems to be the only program functioning properly. And if I l can't take the chance of losing totatl internet access.

Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thank you,

Zeke