Glen won't mind if I steal his nice, concise advice on this subject:
------------------------
Follow the procedures he
Blank Desktop or Illegal Operations Error Message After You Install
Internet
Explorer:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=kb;en-us;249191

If those procedures do not help, have a look he
Recovering From a Failed Internet Explorer Upgrade in Windows 98:
http://www.cs.bsu.edu/~gjjones/admin...nd ows98.html
or
http://tinyurl.com/r5ba

Especially this section at the end:

"If you still have boot problems after you reboot, you should use the
command prompt
to edit the c:\windows\system.ini file. On the command line type edit
c:\windows\system.ini.

"Once it is open, change the line shell=explorer.exe to
shell=progman.exe. What you
are doing here is changing the default shell (that is having problems)
from the
Windows Explorer to the old Windows Program Manager shell.

"Reboot Windows. It should now successfully boot with no errors into an
empty
Program Manager shell. Use the File | Run | Browse drop down menu
selection to
browse to c:\program files\internet explorer and launch ie5setup.exe or
ie6setup.exe
(depending on what is there). Do a custom install and check all the Bold
faced
options. When the setup program alerts you that these files are already
installed,
tell it to reinstall all of the files.

"When the Internet Explorer Setup program is done and reboots, hit the
F8 key to
bring up a Boot Menu. Choose Command Prompt and boot to the command
prompt. Once
there, type edit c:\windows\system.ini and, once it is open, change the
line
shell=progman.exe back to shell=explorer.exe. Save and exit the file.
You have now
set the shell back to the original value."
----------------------------------------

Right, Glen, g?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Andrew" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

I've just installed three Windows patches using Windows Update, and
now my
machine will not complete the startup - it hangs with an hourglass,
and C-A-D
allows restart. Any ideas on what I can do to try to fix this?

Many thanks,

The hang appears to be near the end of the startup - antivirus is
started,
and there are various normal items showing in the right of the Start
bar.

I didn't note which fixes were installed, but I think two were Windows
and
one was Internet Explorer.

So far, based on items on this forum, I've tried:
Running anti-virus in safe mode
Checking device manager for obvious problems
Removing the ethernet cable to broadband