Connected to Network, Able to Ping but no pages on Browser

Hello guys,
i have been working on my friend's laptop and can get it to access the internet, sort off.
I tried to get it connected wirelessly and wired, both ways I can ping any web site on DOS and get a normal response, but when I open any browser (I tried IE7 and Safari), they cannot display any page.
I already tried 3 diferent networks (home, work and his house) with the same result. So, no diference with any other router.
I checked the tcp/ip configurations on the internet properties and everything is normal (automactly detecting).
I disabled the firewall, no luck.
I triend to ipconfig release/ renew/ flushdns... nothing
I used Winsock, in a attempt to fix the registries....nope
I reset all the configs on IE, Unistalled and re-installed - nothing
looked on MsConfig for any strange program, disabled most of the startup programs and left the windows process alone, with no results...

Now, the computer had some viruses on it, wich I have been cleaning and it might be the culprit. One thing I noticed is that on the task manager does not show the user name of the running programs.
AND

IT WORKS FINE ON SAFE MODE, WIRED AND WIRELESS!!!

Ok, my guess is that is a virus/ spyware/ monsterware . But if any of you guys recognise the problem and can give a hint and some help, will be greatly apreciated and will save some work. I cleaned with Avast Antivirus, Spyware Doctor, Spyware Sweeper and Spybot S&D.

Thanks and I hope I was clear enough with my explanation

 

Check hosts file and try firefox see if it goes out to the web..
if your against installing firefox, google portable firefox.
This will help narrow it down.

A second browser is always handy. I had a consultant in my office that was having IE issues and since I didn't know his firewall/av package and didn't have all day to figure it out I gave him Firefox (portable) and he was back online and able to work.