just a note, I have heard of this specific behaviour if people have previously had Norton/Symantec products installed. Does this apply ?
Little free tool called 'EnumProcess' can probably help you identify whats stopping it working. You can find it by googling it.
I just signed up to thank member "aukiman" about the suggestion to uninstall Norton/Symantec products and it worked!
In my case--and my symptoms were,
I was getting the following message when trying to update Java from within Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) browser:
"the installer cannot proceed with the current internet connection settings"
Nothing was configured or checked under Proxy Setting in IE8 as I read to check for on other websites
Another symptom was that my Internet Explorer 8 connected to web pages fine but there were some noticible quirks trying to login to Yahoo Mail when entering username and password
Also, Firefox and Safari could no longer connect to ANY webpages and gave default/generic "connection could not be extablished" type message within the browser page
Once I uninstalled Norton Internet Security 2012 version--I was able to update Java from within Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox loads webpages normally again
Thanks again, "aukiman"--your hint was a push in the right direction--thanks for posting that hint and that is why I am posting my success to help others in the same situation
Uninstall your Internet Security/Firewall solution type product such as McAfee Internet Security, Trend Micro, Norton etc if you have same symptoms as I had above. You can always reinstall the Internet Protection/Firewall type software again later--make sure to note your install serial numbers before uninstalling and that you can first get a new program install file downloaded from the software maker's website too