Well, I'm not sure what did it but I've been through all the suggestions and done the things that I hadn't yet tried - including switching the router off and on and re-starting the PC a couple of times. It now works!
It remains somewhat a mystery however as based on the comments above, the system was correctly configured, ipconfig had shown the correct values, I even tried a release and renew.
I think I have seen two problems. The first before I rebuilt the machine was to do with the speedtouch configuration somehow being retained as the default link to the web (this was the only real difference between the two working systems and the non working PC). After the rebuild I think the linksys might have been the cause and was incorrectly processing the DNS? The series of switching off and on fixing that!
A really big thank you for all the suggestions.
For all the UK correspondents - have you seen "The IT crowd" and the immortal lines "Is your computer plugged in, switch it off and on..." For those in the States, when TV comedy "The IT Crowd" gets to PBS don't miss it! British humour at its best! Its based on an IT helpdesk in a large corporation, geeks providing IT support to office workers who really shouldn't be allowed near computers!
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