"windows sockets"... what the hell?

hey, i know i have another thread concerning my blank screen, but its actually okay now. thank you

however... another even more annoying problem has risen. i went to use my computer today and found my internet wasnt working. that doesnt matter, its usually my stupid ISP... so taking out the adapter and putting it back in always works. but this time it seems to be able to do everything until it gets to aquiring the network address... which it just does forever and nothing happens.

anyway, thats not really the main problem, but it could be related. i also saw that there was a windows update available. i installed it and was surprised to find that i didnt need to restart to apply it fully, but i did anyway, to see if it would solve this internet problem. of course it didnt, and as soon as i logged on, i get this error message saying something like "windows sockets could not be installed."

i press OK and the computer seemed to be running fine except of course for the internet. i then installed some back-up software because it was just... something that needed doing. i then had to restart again for the software to be installed properly. this time, the log on screen was displayed for an awfully long time, then so was my wallpaper with no desktop or start bar etc. i waited, and finally got a similar error message, but this time it was "windows sockets could not be initialized". after i pressed OK nothing happened for a long time again. i brought up the task manager and was about to shut down but the desktop and everything else finally appeared.

and its still running fine, except for the internet. Can anyone help?