hi, sorry for the late reply!
I reset and disabled add-ons in internet explorer - no difference.
I also used the repair tool - no difference.
Now it get interesting when I read the website you linked. I have the same problem - no windows updates and itunes wont connect. I didn't realize they were connected.
It says the solution is to uninstall the service packs. Now its referring to XP, but I think its worth a try, no?
I tried to uninstall the service pack, first I couldn' find it, but then I went into safe mode to look for it. I tried to uninstall it from programs [update section], but it came up with the error that it couldnt complete.
Sooo then, i went to the microsoft site for help,
How to uninstall Windows Vista service packs as a troubleshooting step
I tried everything but the restore. The restore files dont go that far back.
When I tried the command prompt route, it could not find the path specified. I'm not sure where to tell it to look.
+ for the key, i looked for it, but I could only get to Lsa, i could not find security packages
What are your thoughts?
&thank you so much - you are best amount of help i have gotten so far!