and so much better than any Italian I could use, 
Glad you found the cause, and congratulations. It is a strange one though, I wonder how CNET's Download.com got added to the Hosts file?
If you read that explanation about the Hosts file you will probably understand what it does. The browser, (any browser), will first check Hosts whenever it is asked to find any web site, and that re-direct to 127.0.0.1 is a re-direct back to your own computer, so in effect the browser was turning round and coming back home.
I wonder if you use HOSTS as a method to cut down on rogue sites, or perhaps some security application or other you have modified it?
But anyway, good work, and thanks for letting us know.
Mark