Thanks for the inputs, I was able to install 4.10 by doing the following:
- uninstall the VS 2015 C++ redistributable x64 and x86,
- ran the prerequisites directly through the exe ( as suggested by Alters)
- ran Epic Games Launcher which successfully installed 4.10
- finally reinstalled VS 2015 update1 to reinstall the C++ common components.
Appears to have work so far.