Error attmpting to validate the Winsock base providers: 2

I have seen threads about this before but, mine appears slightly different.
I can browse or anything I want except with Internet explorer version 7. I can connect to ftp.microsoft.com with IE but no http or https. A reboot solves the problem for awhile but it comes back doing the same thing in an hour. I can ping, tracert browse with firefox get e-mail with thunderbird but IE JUST STOPS WORKING!