OS Win 7 LibreOffice 3.5
Insert >Link to external data. Inserting a an internet URL results in
"The host name HTTP://www.anything.com could not be resolved.
The Update. [Ed. note: “Then update” ?]
Tools >Options>Online Update can not be accessed via internet either.
I assume your firewall blocks LibreOffice’s attempts to connect to the internet. Please check your firewall settings and allow LibreOffice to make requests through the firewall.
See http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Allow-a-program-to-communicate-through-Windows-Firewall for instructions on how to configure the builtin firewall.
I excessively use External contents inserted to CALC via menu ‘Insert → Link to external data’ with LibreOffice 3.5.2.2 German UI/Locale [Build-ID: 281b639-6baa1d3-ef66a77-d866f25-f36d45f] on German WIN7 Home Premium (64bit) and also did with versions before. We have “Bug 42377 - EDITING: Insert external data will not start with uncoded special characters in URL”, but symptoms there are different to the ones george mentions, so I also think it’s a firewall problem or similar.