I have no idea why, but after almost a month of having the problems discussed above, tonight, after midnight on 6/28, when I brought the computer up from Sleep, the problems suddenly have all disappeared. I made no changes I am aware of, but Internet Explorer and Google are all behaving normally and with good speed! I am delighted, although I wish I knew what happened!
Maybe at the SLOBytes 4th of July meeting and picnic Sunday, someone will have an idea what happened!