Really?! Nobody has a clue about resolving the issue with which I started this thread?
Time to give Apple support a phone call and see if they do. I ain't holding my breath.
EDIT: Just spent a fair bit of time with a senior Apple advisor who thinks the problem is with the Firefox browser.
Actually, I just tried using the Help function in Finder. (No browser involved, neither Firefox nor Safari.)
A Help Center window opens. As a test I enter "function key" (without quotes), and under All Help 31 articles show up. I choose any one of them and:
First, "Content not available" pops up (because I'm [supposedly] not connected to the Internet);
second, nothing comes up and the colored wheel just keeps spinning, after which "Content not available" shows up.
So ... it's not a problem with any browser, it's a problem with the Help function in the menu bar and then with the Help Center to which the former directs.
Clearly a problem with Apple and/or OS 10.7.1.
I should probably just resign myself to the fact that this particular thing is never going to work and that I'm permanently SOL when it comes to getting help out of my iMac or from Apple's support website. (Now there's an irony.)
