KB896688 pwns ActiveX
Recently, after leaving all the boxes checked for my Windows update patches - a ton of my apps broke on me. I got to find out how much stuff I use is actually implemented using ActiveX Controls in an IE browser window - The Yahoo! IM LAUNCHCast player, some HP Printing software, and of course, the addictive flash internet games my wife and kids love to play.
After a little research on the problem - Google Groups revealed the culprit to me: KB896688.
If all of a sudden you have all manner of ActiveX trouble in your browser - you can uninstall that update specifically with add/remove programs and then try downloading the update itself from here.
Like the Google Groups post mentioned - you might be able to get it to work by installing the update by itself with the download - or not.