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There were no more replies to this, but I figured there MUST be some other firewall-like activity going on on my machine, so I started to dig. The solution seems too simple in retrospect.
As previously stated, I run Norton Internet Security Pro 2004. I had the firewall turned off, as I have a hardware firewall. However:
In NISPro there are other firewall-like functions. In particular there is Privacy Control. By default, this blocks sending of web browser information. If you click Custom Levels and uncheck Browser Privacy, it allows the browser to properly communicate with XOOPS and you can register, edit accounts and so on in a normal way. My old machine had NIS2003, so the 2004 edition may be more rigorous.
As a lot of people run NISPro, or similar, I think it is important to have on record that there are functions other than the personal firewall that can block proper communication between a browser and Xoops.
Barry Cooper