Cannot download from Windows Update

Hi all-

I’m working to resurrect a college student’s PC that was riddled with viri & spyware. All of that is clean now. My next step was to check for updates &, horrors, it had apparently never been updated!

It shows as XP Home- no service packs on it. When I went to Windows Update, it wanted to install the new BITS 2.0 & WinHTTP 5.1- but the install fails each time. All I get is a pop up saying it has failed- nothing else to help troubleshoot this (thanks MS). I need this in order to get the rest of the updates.

I found & downloaded the program & tried to run it directly from the PC but it will come back as “access denied”? This is a private computer, purchased from Dell about two years ago. She is the only owner so I’m perplexed on the “access denied” message.

Help?

Tracy