Thank you all, very very much =]. Oh I do play safe, this was caused while I was away and not on my own computer, and I will be having a little chitchat with the culprit, though it's still unclear where exactly this mishap came from. By the way, windows firewall was disabled during this predicament because the firewall is controlled by the registry, right? Since obviously my best efforts to teach safe computer habits are not fool-proof ('build a better idiot' and whatnot), could you tell me if you deem it necessary to install a 3rd party firewall, and if so, which one?

Sure. I use Comodo Firewall Pro [it's free... they get their money from certifying secure sites].. but it will drive the casual puter user nuts. It is very comprehensive, possibly the best; you can spend hours working out its capabilities, and it is not set n ferget. But it is very good.
ZoneAlarm is good, and not demanding at all.
I can only speak from personal experience... I am not a reviewer; these are things I use/have used.

lovely. Yes, Comodo was quite the adventure when I tried it. I loved the control it had so much, especially the learning feature, but it drove my brothers crazy. Luckily, you seemed to anticipate this and mentioned Zone Alarm, which was exactly what I was looking for. I appreciate (and trust) your recommendation, certainly =]. Thanks again for the time and dedication.

Cheers, whoost.
Firewalls.. there's always another one: Online Armour V2 free from http://www.tallemu.com
Highly rated, more than ZA, I believe.