program internet connectivity

I seem to be having a lot of trouble with any program in Vista that needs an
internet connection.

I can browse the internet, access network computers, etc. But, I have
programs like Dreamweaver, CuteFTP and a few others that aren't allowed
connections to the internet at all.

Case in point, CuteFTP needs to connect to the internet to activate its
registration, but, when it tries, it pops up an error that says no internet
connection is found.

I also get errors when I try to connect to an ftp site with CuteFTP.
Although it says the connection was refused by the remote host, I know that's
not accurate because ALL of the sites do it and I know all of them aren't
refusing.

With Dreamweaver, it does the same, a big, fat error pops up and won't allow
me to connect to any of my sites.

I've added these programs to the firewall and there are no other firewalls
running. I've even turned the firewall off completely and I STILL can't
connect.

Does anyone know what's causing this?

Thanks!