Windows XP Update freezes, no shutdown possible

[Samuel Bürki]

I reinstalled WinXP home and since have the following problems, related as
far as I can see:

- Windows Update hangs at x% when set on automatic update (the yellow icon
in the taskbar)
- the Windows Update site freezes whenever it should open (via IE).
- Outlook 2002 freezes after 10-30 min
- Windows XP doesn't shut down anymore, it hangs at the shutdown message

RAM (1x 256 and 1x 512 MB) seems to be ok
Office XP with SP1-3
WinXP SP2
I can't remember when Windows Update froze for the first time. Whenever I
did an
update via the catalogue, it worked fine. After that, I went to the Windows
Update site (via the link on the left), and as soon as I clicked on the
custom installation link, it froze again (IE). Any ideas? I know the one
about reinstalling... (the current installation is hardly two weeks old).

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I would try using Disk Cleanup (in system tools) to delete all activex objects.

 

[Samuel Bürki]

I did that, and used various tools (Spybot S&D, AdAware, etc) to clean
elements up that could cause the problem, without success however.

 

[Guest]

I had this problem turned out to be the wrong date and time settings in BIOS,
you can access BIOS when you turn on your pc.