[SOLVED] control panel not working

Help - I have just rebooted after windows update downloaded a load of updates and now cannot access anything in my control panel except uninstall.
The battery power indicator and internet connection strength icons have also disappeared from the task bar.
I have tried rebooting in safe mode but the problem is persists. When I try to get into User Accounts I get an error message saying windows cannot find it!!

What is going on?

I am running Windows 7 Professional 32 bit.

Thanks in advance for any help

Windows Updates should have created an Automatic Restore Point prior to installation. Go Back to that. Make sure that you have Auto Updates set to not automatically download and install. You can then install them manually, a couple at a time, rebooting between each batch. If the problem re-occurs it will then be one of the two in your last batch that caused the problem.

Sometimes you won't see a re-occurrence as its the actual loading of "quite a lot" of updates in one fell swoop that causes the errors.

I can't access updates to do that. Windows explorer isn't working either. I can't access anything!!!

Can you get to Safe Mode? (On mine I have to press F8 repeatedly after the BIOS screen or "beep")

That's good advice from Elmer - installing the updates in batches should help narrow down the cause.

If Safe Mode also fails you should also be able to boot from the Windows 7 installation DVD and click "repair your computer" then select the System Restore button. This will let you roll back the updates if you can't boot in to Windows.

Safe mode doesn't help - I still can't get into Updates or anything other than Uninstall in the Control Panel. I loaded my Windows 7 installation disk but the only option is to Install - it doesn't seem to offer a Repair option. I've now lost an entire morning's work to this problem and am no nearer fixing it. I don't know what to do - please help someone!

Managed to run System Restore from the installation disk but at the end of it got a message saying that
System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files adn settings were not changed.
Details:
An unexpected error occurred during System Restore (0x80070002)

But when I restarted I got a message saying System Restore had been successful. However, the problem has not been resolved. I still can't get into Control Panel and Windows Explorer is still not working. I cannot access anything.

With that message, you seem to have a corrupt file which is trying to load a component.
When in safe mode, open a Command prompt (Administrator mode) and type the following
sfc /scannow and enter.
It will take a while and check the vulnerable files.

OK - your clue about a corrupt file led me to uninstall a couple of programmes that I had installed since my last reboot and hey presto everything is now working fine again. Don't know which of these programmes was the culprit but won't be downloading them again to find out.
Thanks for your help

Care to name them which may help future issues for others?