Vista Update Fails w/Error 80073EE2

I am unable to get any updates under Vista. It fails with error 80073EE2.

There is no local firewall enabled and I've tried the delete SoftwareUpdates
folder trick. We do run Microsoft Proxy Server here as well as another
firewall, but I have no control over this (Vista is not officially
sanctioned here). The update fails both with and without the Microsoft Proxy
client enabled.

Is there anything else I can try? Are there additional ports I need to ask
our IS department to open?

Is it possible to download updates outside of the Windows Update feature??

--Bruce