Outgoing Requests Blocked On Various Programs

In Zune Software, I can't login to the marketplace/social

In Twhirl (a twitter client) I can't login to receive my feeds

In Picasa (A Photo Managing Software) I can't login to upload photos to a web album

When I try to sync the time server, it can't connect

When I plug in new hardware, Window's can't connect to find drivers

And Lastly, when using Windows Update, I get an infamous '80072EE2' error

So, in short, SOME of my programs keep having their outgoing requests or connections blocked. My internet works fine. When I play games it connects just fine. When I use and IM client it works fine. But for these programs...not so much.

And the worst thing about it is that it's effecting more programs. Picasa and Twhirl we're working last week shortly after I installed Windows 7

Anyways, I've tried a bunch of stuff already:

Disabling Windows Firewall, Enabling it with the specific programs allowed through, disabling anitvirus in addtion to firewall, switich the firewall programs, telling IE to auto-detect my proxy (I have none), going thru cmd prompt and resetting the proxy (still don't have one), system restoring to when I first installed the beta (when Twhirl and Picasa worked) only to have them stop working

Oh, and I connect to my network wirelessly through a Linksys USB-G receiver, which gets the signal from a Netgear router, which is hooked up to a cable modem

So, to say the least, I'm stumped. And if ANYONE could help me out here, it would be AMAZING. So, thanks in advance for any and all suggestions, help, tips, etc.