I found out the issue for my system. I use a virtual account number utility from my CC company which was interfering with the forum. If I killed the virtual account number utility, the process was called Obroker, the issue goes away. I see that this is apparently a known issue. For me, I can just kill the app and the OBroker process or run InPrivate. Hope this helps others.
See the following for examples of others having similar issues;
http://www.techtalkz.com/internet-ex...on-failed.html http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=2287714 http://www.eggheadcafe.com/conversat...eadid=33043031