I am having a similar problem. (I happen to be using windows XP.) However, I have one twist to add: when I am using internet connection sharing, google pages load with no problem, for example I can use google search and gmail. However, whenever I try to load any other web page I get the infinite "Connecting..." problem.

I thought this might be because google pages are just text (and therefore might load more quickly). However, I can use google image search with no problem, so it isn't a text-only thing.

Any suggestions for what might be causing this are welcome.