Error 12029 in IE7/XP & "could not make an HTTP connection:"IE can't display this webpage"?

yup, I've got all of the above.. Do I have a virus? I've given up & I'm taking the pc in Monday. I've got dialup and a cheapie provider (Peoplepc.com) It sez in the IP a connection w/the server could not be established. I finally called peoplepc and they said 'delete ur IE 8 and go for IE 6 which is more compatible. I deleted the 8 (& it reverted back to 6.) Weirdly enough I CAN use my Firefox.. why is that? I deleted my GoogleChrome (it didn't work either.) I'm all connected. I couldn't do a system restore but I did (sounds the same to me) something called 'revert back to an earlier time ur pc worked.' I've got the Windows firewall/anti vir. that came w/the Compaq pc, and I also do defrags. I've got Windows defender, Sweepie, Spybot, Malwarebytes, Superantispyware (oh u get the drift.) I know it sounds like they might be conflicting but I swear I didn't have a problem until about 3 to 4 days ago; things seems to be in sync.. ok, I said enuff..thank you 4 reading about me. wait, I should add this: about 3/4 days ago when all this started I kept getting this CPUl00% deal which of course totally froze me. It was from PeoplePC.exe in my task manager. I Googled something saying that might be a virus. I read a lot of anti-Peoplepc stuff and get rid of their freebie toolbar (which I did.) Then the pc pc really went downhill. I take back the 3/4days.. it's been nearly a week now.(I write a lot)