OK could you reboot to safe mode please and select Command Prompt
At the command prompt type the following and press enter :
rstrui.exe
Follow the on screen instructions and select the restore point made prior to the windows update
It should then reboot to normal mode
Once there when windows tries to update do not let it install the updates but copy the KB numbers and let me know what they are
Ah-HA! Well, that’s more like it: all went well and as planned, AFAICT…
…followed by checking which Windows Updates borked my Win7 partition: and the Chief Suspects are as follows:
Since I don’t recall asking for these two, they are prolly blameless:
Hope this helps in enabling you to root out the bad apples, so to speak.
OK do not install the updates at the moment
Update IE to IE10 downloading from here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/internet-explorer/ie-10-worldwide-languages
Once installed then recheck windows updates
Install all .NET and office updates.
Then let me know which ones remain
Curiouser and curiouser! :o :
I couldn’t find a way to prevent Win7 doing its ‘Important Updates’ thang automatically, but… the whole shebang seems to have righted itself, second time around!
Win7 starts up in Normal Mode as expected, with the ‘desktop image + icons + widgets + taskbar’ combo appearing as indeed they should, in contradistinction to the Big Black Blank Screen of nothingness which appeared prior to Win7’s second stab at installing those 22 ‘important updates’ noted above.
The ‘Windows Update’ control panel now only shows the two optional updates, and I’m not going to the added time expense of matching the top 22 records in its ‘Review your update history’ table with the ‘Chief Suspects’ screenshot above - it just seems fair to assume that, on its second attempt at installing these 22 ‘important updates’, Win7 succeeded where it had previously failed.
I was planning on putting IE10 in place, so many thanks for the link to its download page - it’s now installed and seems to be running fine.
Goodness knows what went right this time cf. what went wrong last time, but I’m just fine about not looking this particular gift horse in the mouth. My inner mythology lover is wont to offer the explanation that a malicious and mischievous Pack of Gremlins tried messing up my Win7 partition, but once they saw I’d brought in Malware Analyst Gunslinger EssexBoy to straighten things out, the cowardly little minxes fled to a less well protected PC elsewhere. Pure and utter nonsense, I know, but as good a story as any! 
So thanks for looking mean and dangerous and intimidating the WRONGNESS into going vamoosh at the hurry up - I really appreciate your assistance. Here’s hoping it’ll continue to be uninfected plain-sailing from this point onwards. 8)
It was my pleasure, I like your descriptive English… Something my old English master tries to drum into me… but, alas he failed
Keep safe