Good morning Fran, Tibs, CES, Gracie, snails......
Bummer Fran. MS sent out a bunch of updates yesterday (I just got done loading all of them). You may wish to try:
1) Waiting and letting it recover for a while (if there's hard drive activity)
2) Booting in safe mode, and then running Windows Update in control panel.
Just a thought. Also check web support forums for your make/model. Manufacturers often have support forums. If it's update related, others will have the issue too. Try to avoid doing this using the computer if it is in safe mode though, as your virus protection may not be working in safe mode. (Ironic, no?) Basically, use the laptop to lookup forum stuff for the desktop.
(Booting in safe mode is done by pressing F8 just when the keyboard starts working...bang on the key while booting.)
5 Ways to Boot into Safe Mode in Windows 8 & Windows 8.1