When I ping Symantec, Mcafee, or Grisoft, I get 127.0.0.1 not pingable, why is it that when I ping those sites I get my loopback port. I think one of my friends put a hack on my system or something - any ideas?

are you inputting > ping www.symantec.com
at the command prompt?
You may have DNS server issues, so check to see if you're assigned a DNS server # and also maybe PING using their IP instead, like 63.208.194.33

Yes I ping the www address, I know how to ping as I troubleshoot routers on a WAN at work. I thought there might be a known hack or virus that can cause these problems. I can ping and goto all other websites just fine. I do a traceroute and get nothing because it won't leave my system. My buddy who has a computer (XP) on my home LAN can get to the websites just fine.

There were some PING named viruses, as their behavior indicated, would repeatedly
ping host, indefinately, and also targeted documents on the user's machine, but it does not sound like your symptoms.
I'd suggest a complete virus scan at
www.housecall.antivirus.com (if you can get to it)

AND

a full trojan scan, by downloading the TRIAL
TROJAN REMOVER from www.simplysup.com

If they show negative, then scan your PC at www.pcflank.com for any ports open and security lapses.

As for a hack, sure it's possible especially if a person had physical access to your box.
You could SEARCH your PC for ALL files CREATED ON or AFTER a certain date and then examine them for any irregularities or any suspicious appearance.
You could always reset your NIC card and UNINSTALL all your NETWORKING protocols and then start over with new INSTALLS of everything NETWORK related, but that's a last option.
What interests me, is how it only seems to block security sites, as if someone has programmed it that way.
Try an experiment: try to ping
www.pandasoftware.com
and www.wilders.org
and
www.avast.com
and if you can't ,that certainly might prove some trickery going on.

hello
do search for loacal hosts file and see if there are enterys in there for the sights your trying to get to. as 127.0.0.1
is a loacal internal addy on your computer.

Quote from Cal,
"I thought there might be a known hack or virus that can cause these problems."

Yes, this can cause that problem.
This virus can disable Windows and executable files and block access to certain Web sites, including Symantec Web sites. In some cases you must perform any needed downloads on an uninfected computer.

Removal tool if you need it;

W95.MTX Fix Tool

Well.., I was able to download the trojan remover from www.simplysup.com and I'm clean. I cannot get to www.pandasoftware but the other websites I can. I reinstalled my network protocols, and I tried the WIN95MTX fix from Symantec, it found nothing.
I'm going to put a few more hours into this today and then thats it. Time to reload it, then start shopping around for another cheap scrap heap.

Look in the hosts file

c:/windows/system32/drivers/etc/hosts

Open with notepad and remove the lines containing the blocked sites (if any)