Cannot get to Windows Update!?!
My wifes computer has been running Windows XP SP3 without any problems for a couple of years, at least. She is out of town, and the computer has been switched off for a couple of weeks, since early October 2009.
I thought it would be a good idea to install the patches that Microsoft released last Tuesday, but discovered the following problem:
Opening IE 8, clicking on Tools, Windows Update produces this message:
Server Error
403 Forbidden: Access is denied
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.
Ive never had anything like this happen before; I dont think there is anything changed about the computer hardware or software, so I am stumped. Perhaps someone else has been down this path; any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
IE8 and Firefox both seem to be working OK, except for the problem described above.
" Checked for viruses using external web-based scanners (Panda Cloud antivirus and Panda Activescan 2.0,
" Checked for malware using SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes (which were able to update themselves fine)
" My next step was to go back to a System Restore point in September, which did not help either.
As an additional clue, the little castle icon for Windows Defender is in the system tray with an exclamation point. Opening Windows Defender and clicking on Check for Updates Now produces this message:
Error found: Code 0x80072f8f
Checked for viruses using external web-based scanners (Panda Cloud antivirus and Panda Activescan 2.0,
Checked for malware using SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes (which were able to update themselves fine)
My next step was to go back to a System Restore point in September.
That did not help.
There are various, somewhat confusing, pages at Microsoft that make reference to that numeric error code.
Following the suggestions, I have
" re-set the date and time
" checked the c:\I386\HOSTS file
" found no files in c:\windows\system32\logfil
es.
" turned off the Comodo software firewall that has worked fine with no problems for more than a year.
" Run CCleaner to see if it identifies anything strange
So far, no luck.
Thank you for any help!