Windows Installer pop-up blocking Hotmail

[Polly M]

Since updating to Service Pack 2, when I'm using Live Hotmail, every time I
open or send a message a Windows Installer pop-up appears for a few minutes
with the message "Preparing to Install..."
Any advice on how to stop this would be much appreciated.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

SP2 was released almost 5 years ago: Why haven't you installed it until just
now? Are you aware that you probably could have skipped SP2 and installed
SP3 (which was released 1 year ago)?

Is Automatic Updates enabled and can you access & install updates via
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com?

What's the rest of the "Preparing to install..." message?

 

[Peter Foldes]

Use this tool below to fix your issue with the Installer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

 

[Polly M]

I was not aware of the up to date SP situation. I was prompted to install SP2
a few months ago by Windows and I did so. There is a slim chance that I
remember wrongly and that it actually was SP3. Is there any way to know?
Automatic Updates is turned on but since this installation I have not been
prompted to update anything and if I run a check I am told it is fully
updated.
There is no further message after Preparing to Install...
Thanks!
Polly