Outlook unable to view pictures in html emails

Had an interesting problem this morning when one particular email client was getting “blank” emails whenever he was sent an email in html format. However, on closer look pictures in the email were appearing for a fraction of a second and then disappearing again. Right clicking on the email and choosing view source showed the html source for the email. Saving this as a html file and opening it in internet explorer 6 (on the machine) showed a blank page. Looking at the same page in Firebird (which I had to download and run) showed the text and picture of the email. A quick look at the properties of Internet Explorer showed it was running without the servicepack1 to it. Updating it cured the problem – emails were now visible again. A very strange problem and one that had me stumped for a while. A search in google showed a few other people with the same problem but no solution – hopefully this post will help others in the future.