Windows Update Win2K problem

I just did a Windows Software Update using Win2K; it updated 17 different
items and now I find that I can no longer access most pages in the Microsoft
Support Newsgroups.

I get the message "Sorry, the page you requested is not available". I know
for a fact that it is available because I can still access it on my trusty
Win98SE machine which is sitting at the next desk.

Obviously something about the update has screwed something up, but what?
Where does one look? I have looked everything I can think of to look but
haven't found any mention of this problem.

For the record in case it matters, the KB articles which cover the updates
that were installed are: 889293, 8232353, 833989, 873339, 8858365, 885835,
873374, 870669, 840315, 842526, 841873, 841356, 840987, 841872, 841533,
839643 and 839645.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.