Hi everybody, is anyone else having trouble checking for updates at Microsoft? I can get past the Express/Custom screen and it will attempt to check for updates, but, it ends up on an error page and says it can't display the page. The exact error message is error number 0x8024402C. I have tried updating with all the security programs I have turned off, but it's still a no-go.

No problems here ;-)

It may be ie7 pop up blocker. Some tips http://www.updatexp.com/0x8024402c....

I looked through those tips but no change unfortunately. I haven't visited the Updates website manually for awhile until today, so I don't know how long this may have been going on. Last night, I installed "All-In-One Secretmaker, found here : http://www.secretmaker.com/. That program seemed to work good, it at least blocked ads and such as promised. However, it was also a pain in the butt when trying to download even very well known apps. It also caused a stink at Windows Update, which is why I brought it up in case it did something screwy to the registry or something. Does anyone know anything about this program? I try and review every anti-whatever app I am interested in, but reviews can get a little confusing. Anyway, I guess if I can't get this fixed, I'll reinstall the OS, but man I hate having to go that far over 1 little thing.

Oh, guys, I forgot to mention I have since uninstalled Secretmaker, cleaned the registry and tried WindowsUpdate afterward with no change.

I would download Cclean and run it, I had a problem after updateing to IE7 geting to updates. I ran spyware doctor it found one problem and fix it and all is ok now. also check this. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/900936

Sorry for getting back to you so late. I ended up doing a reinstall and everything returned to normal. I think my lesson here is be awful careful about security apps you try out and the changes they make. I even went so far as to try out sandboxing (nice idea, evidently very flawed in practice from what I read), but I think one can get a little app-happy if they start reading too many security forums :-) So, now all I have is the following: MVPs HOSTS File SpywareTerminator SUPERAntiSpyware CCleaner Comodo Firewall AntiVir SpywareBlaster I'll probably download Firefox or SeaMonkey with AdBlockPlus and NoScripts, but that's where I'm gonna stop, lol. Thanks for all the help guys :-)