Update Icon keeps showing up/ no internet connection with IE

Since the last updates, the "Downloading Updates..." icon shows up for like
20 seconds in the system tray. The download doesn't proceed and keeps showing
0%.
So I wanted to do a manual update, but then I noticed that Internet explorer
can't connect to the internet anymore. i upgraded to IE 7 but that didn't
help either. Firefox works fine though. I disabled ZoneAlarm and deinstalled
S&D teatimer, which didn't help.
Now I read it might be a problem with the last updates. But neither the
proposed registry changes, nor the manually installed 908531v2 patch did help.

Ah, and there's definetly no "Verclsid.exe" running. I checked that with
hijackthis.