strange connectivity issues

Hello! I'm having some weird issues with my internet connection. I don't know much about computers so i'll try to explain the best i can. For the two weeks now, my internet has seemed slightly slower on loading up pages and videos. For some reason, when i type a url in the address bar (like majorgeeks.com) sometimes it'll take me to a search site instead that has a list of all the sites related to that name. It doesn't happen every time i enter a url in but it does happen quite often. Sometimes it'll even just take me to a page that says the page cannot be displayed. Usually i just have to hit the 'refresh' button once and it'll load up fine. It doesn't seem like anything major, but it is very inconvenient having to hit 'refresh' almost every time i visit another site. I think whatever this issue is is also affecting my email that i use through windows (not outlook but the standard email that comes with vista). Half the time when i open my email it has an error message that says it can't connect to the server host but if i hit 'send/receive all' a few times it establishes connection again. I hope i'm not losing incoming emails over this . Oh, and one more thing: sometimes when i enter a url in the address bar it sends me to the site i entered but in very low quality, like i was using a cellphone to connect to it or something. :confused

here's my computer specs in case you need em:

Windows Vista Home Premium
Processor: Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2080 @ 1.73GHz 1.73GHz
RAM: 1014 MB
I use cable for my internet and Internet Explorer (i don't know what version it's the newest updated for vista) as my browser.

I'd be more than happy to submit any other information you need to assist me. Any help is very much appreciated!

P.S.-I wasn't sure if this could be spyware related or not so i got hijackthis. i can submit a log file if i need to.