>Are you still having problems when you connect to the Internet - if so have you tried using a different browser like Firefox to see if your problem is IE specific? Also I have a feeling that MS Essentials may be a part of the problem and possibly corrupted - have you tried alternative AV software - AVG for instance to get you past this stage - or perhaps uninstal and reinstall MS Esentials?
>
>Colin

I re-installed MS Essentials (BTW, it was showing Virus definition out of date the first time and didn't update from the interface, but I was able to update from the site).

I also was able to Download Windows Updates - it now wants again to re-start the system.

I'll let MS Essentials to finish the scan and then re-start.

Thanks again for your help today.