Here is a suggestion to see if it is a DNS problem:
From Command line:
ping
www.pcmech.com
It should resolve to IP address 209.68.45.231 first then succeed in the ping replies. If that works OK, then use that IP address in IE's nav bar to try to reach pcmech site and see if that succeeds.. It does sound like you are correct in that AOL has hosed things up again..
One other thought would be to set internet options back to default..