I also had this problem and just solved it by downloading IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe 14.7mb, at the end of install it said some updates could not be installed. When I rebooted Kb953838 was installed I also was having problems with wmp 11 so downloaded wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe 25mb. Discovered some interesting stuff below which I'll try in a virtual machine later, and post results. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144 http://help.wugnet.com/windows/Error-Code-...pict629042.html