All Around Internet Problem: Are You Experiencing This?

[myhollowworld2]

Well, I'm not sure if this has happened to anyone, or if anyone's experienced anything similar to this, but hopefully someone can help.

[ What Happened ]
I was downloading some updates today to Windows7 on a laptop I bought just the other day. I was thethering to it using HTC Wifi Router. After all updates downloaded and installed, I shut it down. Now I can't tether to my laptop, my internet speed on my phone is terrible, and I get like, low roaming low service 1x speeds to my PC, even when its in EV. Pages also randomly will stop loading, requiring multiple refreshes.

[ The Details ]
After I installed the updates and shutdown my laptop I quickly exited HTC Wifi Router, not allowing it to disconnect normally. As I recall, if you did this with WMWiFi Router, it also wouldn't let you tether via usb or wifi until you ran the crash cleanup. I think I may be experiencing something similar to this, but I can't explain why it's affecting my laptop.
I've already system restored to before the updates, so those can't be the problem. The strange this is, when I tether to it with the usb, it eventually connects and tells me I have internet, but nothing loads. I've tried connecting/disconnecting a hundred times, and it keeps telling me it's connected, but everything continues to refuse to load.
Seeing as I just got my TP2 a few weeks ago, I just backed up what few programs were installed+contacts and I hard reset. Now the internet on the phone is going at a slower than dial up speed. I have good service and EV, so I'm not sure what's going on...
Any advice?