Hidden firewall or something prevents programs from accessing the internet

I recently had some computer problems (Webroot Spysweeper came up with having cws_cassandra and coolwebsearch, among some others). My computer became unstable and I had to do a windows repair install which basically reinstalled windows but left my documents. The computer still wasn't stable but I ran Ad-aware, SuperAntisSpyware, Webroot spysweeper, Wise disk cleaner 3, and Combofix to try and clear everything off. The computer is stable now and I can access the internet fine with any web browser but I am having wierd problems with other programs. It started with trying to set up Outlook express and I couldn't get my email to work. Then I tried to set up Thunderbird and that woudln't work either. I then went on all the different virus/spyware programs to try and update them and all of them said they were not able to access the internet. I have shut off all programs and I thought could have a built in firewall but it still won't work. ccProxy.exe is running in the background and I am wondering of that could possibly be the problem? Any other ideas? I have tried turning off Windows firewall as well as turning it on and adding all the programs to the allow list but that didn't work either. Thanks for the help.

 

i uninstalled norton and it seems that it was the problem. all programs are now able to access the internet and update themselves. Thanks for the help.