Internet connectivity problems w/i software

Hello,

I have a HP Pavilion PC, I am able to surf the internet without problem via modem directly or via the router, but when I open any installed software that requires internet access within the software (e.g., Microsoft Word clicking on Help, Quicken 2009 connecting to www. quicken.com), I get an error message that I'm not connected to the interent. Both my security and privacy are set to Medium. I have Symantec Antivirus and have uninstalled the Norton Internet Security after the trial period.

On the Quicken website ( https://web.intuit.com/support/browsertest when I try to verify that my Web browser includes the proper encryption, I get the error message that Internet Explorer can not display the webpage. When I run the Windows connectivity diagnostics, I get the message: "Windows tried a repair but a problem still exists. Cannot communicate with Qtestpage.intuit.com (280.240.240.2) Network diagnostics pinged the remote host but did not receive a response."

When I check the IP address configurations of my network card, the IPV4 IP Address is: 192.168.2.4 (obtained automatically; when I try to set it to 192.168.2.1, it tells me there is a systems conflict with another computer with same IP address). The IPV4 Default Gateway/DHCP Server/DNS Server are all set to my router: 192.168.2.1

Internet Explorer > Properties > Connections > LAN Settings > Automatically detect settings option is already checked.