WUWeb FATAL: UpdateClientWorker failed: error 0x8000ffff

Aloha,

I use WinXP sp2. IE6 sp2.
When I go to;
http://update.microsoft.com/windowsu...ult.aspx?ln=en
I get a page saying "Get the latest Windows Update software." and a
button "Install Now".
I click on "Install Now" and my browser freezes.

I check WindowsUpdate.log and I see:
2006-05-02 15:47:12 3556 8e0 WUWeb FATAL: UpdateClientWorker failed:
error 0x8000ffff

I've manually installed every security update from Microsoft and this
is not helping.
I´ve also disable the Symantec AV I'm using but I still can use the
Microsoft Update.
I've also stopped the pop-up blocker.

Two other symptoms I'm having:
- Links that require a new window to open are not working (neither
shift+click a link is working).
- The live update functionality from Symantec is giving me an error
message too.

Please help !!!!

Regards, Pablo