>Thought that maybe it had to do with McAfee Firewall (which I never have active) so I tried activating it. It came up with some set-up wizardy-type dialogues that I tried to answer as best I could (terminologies hardly clear to me). Also found newer software available for it, so I installed and re-booted.

The Firewall might be in cause here. Anyone else could confirm that? I know Nick has this problem as well as another user. Can anyone of you confirm that disabling the firewall could eliminate that message?