I am trying to upgrade my version of Internet Explorer to version 6. I have tried to install from the Microsoft upgrade site and I have also downloaded the appropriate file to My Documents, however, when I try to install it I keep getting a message that I need to reboot as an earlier upgrade has pending work requiring a reboot.

I have rebooted over and over again but always get the same message.

Any advice would be appreciated.

At this point, you are going to need to download and run HijackThis (see my malware links below) and post a log to the Security Forum.

I'm pretty sure that what's happening is that you have a virus or Trojan that's abusing the RunOnce function. This function is normally used, for example, when you install software and have to reboot; because of the abuse, Windows always thinks that a reboot is pending. This serves two purposes for the virus writer: it blocks upgrades, and ensures that the scumware is harder to remove.