Thanks for the update - you
are having fun, yes?
Like Frostie, I suspect ***Norton may well be at the heart of this. I do not use it, have never used it, but hear of many problems.
I would recommend running a reg cleaner programme if you have one - CCleaner perhaps, and let it delete ALL 'dead' registry entries, then try again. If you don't have such,
and are feeling brave, AND IF Norton security is your only Norton product, BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY (another drive if you have one) then run RegEdit (in the Windows folders). Search for and delete ALL keys etc which come up with a 'Norton' reference under 'edit'/'find'. Reboot and try again.
Where does this "'Internet connection" show? What does Internet Explorer/Tools/Internet Options/Connections show? It should be 'Never dial a connection'.