Link Excel Spreadsheets to SharePoint lists?

Hi, I want to bring my Excel spreadsheet into a new SharePoint list.

At first, I did Create-->Import from Spreadsheet and selected the xls file; it gave the error
"Object doesn't support this property or method."
however it successfully opened Excel and brought up the table/name/cell selection dialog box. After I selected
a range of cells and clicked Import however, it gave this error
"Method 'Post' of Object 'IOWSPostData' failed."
and then just sits there not doing anything.

* See more data on this issue below.

Then, following a recommendation here at experts-exchange, I tried to create a Table and then Export the table to SharePoint from within Excel. However, this time it gave me an error "Cannot connect to server at this time. Your list cannot be published." This time I know it IS the server since I tried this on both Excel 2003 and 2007, and also on a different machine, and they all gave the same error. However, I have successfully published to an alternate WSS install.

Microsoft claims to have handled this error through its help which says that either you have AD Account Creation mode enabled or you have Anonymous Access enabled. However, I did not install OSS 2007 with ADACM, and anonymous access is not enabled.

Well, I guess that is two separate questions. Finally, one last clue. I have Word/Excel 2000 installed as well as Office 2003 installed. I'm afraid there would be a clash between the two.

Since I've spent nearly 3 hours on this and couldn't figure it out, I'm rating this extremely difficult. If you could help me I'd love this site forever. Thanks!!

* I know its not a problem with the server because I have successfully imported twice into this server from two other machines.

There were two potential solutions online.

The first, posted at Outlook By Sound blog (msmvps.com/blogs/obts/archive/2006/12/05/384536.aspx)  suggests changing the EXPTOOWS.xla file stored under Office 12 directory, particularly add this line:

lVer = 2 ' sets this macro to always use soap-method of saving data to sharepoint

After this line:
lVer = Application.SharePointVersion(URL)

There were two problems with this solution
1. After opening the EXPTOOWS.xla with a VB editor and making the change, it would not allow me to save, claiming the file was read-only (right-clicking on the file-->properties did not have the read-only box checked). Second I thought to save another version and then rename it and copy it over. But it said I did not have the proper 'signature'.
2. I am seeking a non-developer solution that an average non-technical person can implement if they get this problem on their local PC.

The second solution simply said add your server site to Local Intranet locations in IE. This did not work.