Updates encountered an error????

[Reverend]

Microsoft switched some of their updates to the hosting company Akamai in order to save bandwidth.They took this step mainly because the recent "Blaster" virus caused the MS update site to crash due to so many users trying to download the MSBlast fix file.

One of the causes of your error message could be that the Akamai servers are being blocked in your hosts file.

Close IE and open the hosts file with notepad. (Should be located in C:\Windows\System\Drivers\Etc\ ), and look for an entry similar to a248.e.akamai.net.. Remove the whole line, including the ip address,and then save the changes.
I don't think you have to reboot for the changes to take effect,but you may as well do it,just to make sure.

Note: IE must be closed/disconnected before editing the hosts file,otherwise any edits you make will be immediately re-written back to the file.

Another possible solution is to check that your system clock is displaying the correct date,as an incorrect date sometimes causes that error.