Lately spyware has been causing internet connections to seemingly drop off the map. They are just setting a proxy up in Internet Explorer. If you cant get a connection check:

Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> Lan Settings -> Proxy Server

If it is checked, that is your problem.

This error happened a while back when users were trying to sync their blackberry's and blackberry desktop manager complains about not being connected to the internet. Here was the fix:

1 Click start
2 run
3 type REGEDIT

4 on the left hand side find the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Research In Motion\BlackBerry\Synchronize\0x24a82dfc
5 On the right hand side find and double click "STATE"
6 Change the #1 to a #0 and your BB will sync without connecting to the internet.

When you plug in your android via usb, you have to allow your OS to mount the drive from the android itself. Slide the top bar down and choose mount SD card