ITunes doesn't backup my iPhone 3Gs anymore? (randomly stopped)

Question

Recently, i've had the problem of iTunes being unable to backup my iPhone 3Gs.
It's worked perfectly fine, up until the iOS5 update came out. I attempted to download the update, but it seemed to mess with my phone instead. The software wasn't downloaded at all, and instead it cause my phone to refuse to backup. I was still able to sync my phone then, but it came up with this error message:
"iTunes could not back up iPhone because the backup could not be saved on the computer"
I read the discussions online, and some troubleshooting forums on here about how to fix this issue, but nothing worked. Someone suggested that it meant the backup was corrupt, and that deleting that backup from iTunes ('Edit > Preferences > Devices'), as well as from my computer (C:/users/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/MobileSync/Backup), in order for it to make a completely new back up was the way to fix it, so I tried that... but now, my phone can't even sync, and it just made the problem worse -_-
I connect it to iTunes, and it identifies my phone and understands it's there, but when I click sync or backup (right clicking my phone in the 'Devices' side pannel and selecting 'backup') it says: "Syncing "iPhone" (Step 1 of 5) Backing up" and it doesn't move from there. I get a loading bar, and it stays in the same spot, the whole time it's plugged in - even when I unplug it, it still thinks my iPhone is connected, and still says it's trying to backup (Step 1 of 5).
iTunes has attempted to make another backup folder in 'C:/users/AppData/Roaming/Apple Computer/MobileSync/Backup' for me, and it's named the same, just like my last iPhone backup folder... but I don't understand why, if it's made a folder, why it can't backup my phone in iTunes?
In addition, I can't connect to the iTunes store anymore. It only loads half way when I select the 'iTunes Store' in the side bar. I'm not sure if it's connected to the 'backup' issue i'm also having, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the program many times, yet nothing seems to fix either of my problems. Being unable to connect to the iTunes store had occured once before for me, but uninstalling and reinstalling it MANY times fixed the issue... however, spontaneously, connecting to the iTunes store became and issue again after some time. :/
PLEASE. HELP.

Answer 1

I had iTunes, AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe, and APSDaemon or something (Apple Push) and they plugged up 100% of my resources. I could not access the store, either. Reinstalled in order per apple support many times. Nothing worked
I did this:
http://www.thebambers.me.uk/wordpress/?p=316
Just typed this in the command prompt, rebooted, and it worked!
netsh winsock reset
Abra Kadabra! Good luck all!
By the way, it took an extra moment for internet to reconnect, but once it did, I was back!!!!
Message was edited by: Dan the IT Man