cancel code 0x80004004

i tried to sign into MSN 8.1 today when I got the following message:

" A newer version is available. You must install the newer version in order
to continue."

However when I did the install for messenger 9.0 , at the end of the process
I got an error window stating that

" Programs were not installed because installation was cancelled. Canceled
0x8004004."

I certainly did not cancel the installation.

I have tried to install via different routes a number of times but get the
same cancellation error.

What is going??