Why can't my Browser resolve host, but ping and nslookup can?

For others without a virus: Your browser contains a DNS cache of its own. Try resolving the URL in Firefox or Edge. If you get a different result in Chrome, clear Chrome's DNS cache. Start here:

chrome://net-internals/#dns.

You'll have to copy/paste the link text into Chrome's onmibox. For more help, follow instructions here.

Clearing Chrome's cache causes no adverse effect.


Answering my own question:

There was a rootkit virus attempting to redirect google.com. I was able to download a rootkit removal tool which found and removed the threat.