If you ever get a weird error (as in, no real error but "encountered an error"), you probably just have to check your time and date.
For some weird reason, if you use W2K + IE5 (unpatched after a clean install), try to use windowsupdate and have the wrong date/time set, it won't let you autopatch your windows installation. Also, it doesn't give you the reason.
You can try this if you install the IE6 + Patches alone, set your date/time to something totally wrong, and try the windowsupdate.Microsoft.com thingie. With IE6, you get a way better error message, telling you that probably your date/time settings are fucked.
Whatever causes Microsoft to think that it is soooo very important to FORCE users to have the correct timezone, date and time set, is beyond my recognition...
- Gil