Links not working.

At first I thought this was an IE7 problem but after installing Firefox the
problem exists there as well.
Problem:
Most of the links on web pages will NOT connect from this machine.
For instance, using any Search Engine (Live search, Google, Ask.com etc) I can NOT connect to any of the sponsored links (except for rare exeptions such as a link to microsoft). BUT, when I copy and paste the named web address for any of those links then I connect without a problem.

I had even uninstalled spybot and adaware and stopped the firewall and
Kaspersky but the problem remained.
I've posted in IE and Firefox groups without even getting a suggestion.
It looks like a security setting but I don't know where else to look.
Any help would be very much appreciated.

Vista SP1, Kaspersky, IE7, Firefox.

 

i don't know what type of setting it would be? especially if it's 2 different browsers? have you tried emptying your cache? you can either do it from within your browser(s), or run ccleaner. - sos if you "right click" the link, and open in new tab, or new window, does it work? - sos

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4191.html <-- CCleaner Slim (No Toolbar) 2.08.588

edit - what about trying to run the program as an admin (i kinda doubt it will work, but worth a shot)? "right click" the program, and select run as admin.

 

Thanks for the replies.
It turned out to be the HOSTS file that had over 16,000 entries for websites to block. I've now installed a small program called HOSTSMAN which allows me to turn on and off the blocking of the Hosts file.