User Feedback :: Permission denied & uable to lookup box

I've been using a hard drive DSL install on my Thinkpad since about .4.8 or .5.1, I forget. I always upgrade by wiping the old partition and starting afresh on a new one. I just went from .6.1 to .2 and all of a sudden I'm seeing this on trying to run or install stuff:

Permision denied
or
unable to lookup box via gethostbyname ()

A specific example in the case where I installed Bittorrent:
root@box:~/Stuff# filename.torrent
bash: ./filename.torrent Permission denied

Another example when trying to install:
root@box:~/My Downloads# filename_0.1.2.tar.gz
bash: ./filename_0.1.2.tar.gz Permission denied

If I try the same with sudo:
root@box:~/My Downloads# sudo filename_0.1.2.tar.gz
sudo: unable to lookup box via gethostbyname ()

So, what's new and why is it getting in the way of my DSL experience?

I do everything as root.

Thanks.

I also get
unable to lookup box via gethostbyname ()
when I select "Backup" from the desktop menu.

original here.