If this is an Update related problem Microsoft does provide FREE assistance here: 

For assisted support options:
Microsoft Online Assisted Support (no-cost for update-related issues)

 Microsoft will not help you at the regular support channels for one very good reason, they are not responsible for technical support on any OEM Version Software.

I want my computer FIXED. Microsoft's upgrade broke it, and I shouldn't have to pay them to fix it. I need help!

How do you know it was a Microsoft Update that broke it? Speculation at best.

The sound and everything were working just fine a few minutes before this happened, so its not a driver issue.

What is the " This " that you refer to? I would look at what happened between the time it was known to work properly

and the time it was first known to not work. What ever IT is between these two events is what needs to be removed or fixed.

If it was a Microsoft Update that caused the problems Uninstall it and move on.

You are the only one that can possibly answer this question. Dell has no control over what happens to the software after

it leaves their facility. How are they accountable?

Like I said, Microsoft won't help me unless I pay. I assume they would want to know that something funky is happening.

Trust me if something " Funky " is happening with a Vista Update Microsoft knows about it.

It has been 90 days since I upgraded, so they want to charge me. I already called the free number, and they want me to call back and give my credit card info.

I have tried uninstalling updates and system restore- neither of which are working. System restore tells me there was an unknown error. I've tried three different dates and it won't work.

"This" is normal computer stuff. I was doing what I do every night. Checking email (not opening anything from unknown sources), Skype-ing work to see how things were doing.

I wasn't doing anything I don't normally do, nor was I doing anything particular. I just noticed that it said my internet connection wasn't working.

I couldn't figure out why that wasn't working so I decided to play a game to pass the time.

The game wouldn't play any sound and was acting slowly, so I quit that and opened iTunes. iTunes wouldn't play any music. So I rebooted.

When I rebooted the internet connection said it wasn't connected, no sounds other than Windows sounds will play, and it told me Windows Security Center was having issues.

The firewall was off, so I tried to turn it on- it wouldn't let me. I might add here that I am the only user, thus the administrator on the computer.

Windows wasn't recognizing my anti-virus software, and I couldn't fix that.

Windows Defender was off and in trying to turn it on, said it couldn't find whatever it was looking for, so it remains off.

As far as all the virus/spyware programs that are on the computer, I have Norton on there all the time, as well as Ad-Aware. When Dell suggested virus, and Norton didn't find anything, I download other programs to double-check, as, in my experience, different companies learn about different viruses and find solutions at different times, just as the spyware programs all find different things every time they are run.

I spent a lot of money on this computer to get a lot of hard drive and a fast and large processor. I may not know everything about computers, but I've been on them for 20+ years and have always been good at troubleshooting- on this I'm just lost. I know the "smart" things to do and not do with them. I'm safe with my computer and only download from safe sources, and still run virus checks on the downloaded items and again after they are installed. I don't want this sort of thing to happen to my computer and here it has. I don't know what is causing the problem and am just looking for suggestions on how to fix it not someone to tell me I did something wrong. Reguardless of the cause- if it was me or anything else, no one seems to be able to figure out why this happened and offer an explaination as how to fix it.

Every time I shut my computer down it wants to install a Windows update, and I do it every time. I would expect there to be a lot with a new operating system. I didn't do anything abnormal when this happened. When I checked my email, I didn't have anything I wanted to read, so I didn't open any email. I was on Skype. I tried to play a game that had already been downloaded, installed, and played on my computer. I was probably playing minesweeper or spider solitare while I was on Skype. Outside of that, no programs were run (other than the normals Windows programs that run all the time) or downloaded. I simply looked down after several hours of being on the computer and saw the internet connection had a red x and said that there was none. I went to go play a game that had already been on the computer and it didn't have sound. I checked the sound settings (all of them) and didn't have anything turned off. Windows sounds still played. I opened iTunes- no music. I tried Windows Media Player- no music. I opted to reboot. Then everything stayed the same and windows security center came up after the reboot.

Every time I try to use the computer the same three things happen, or stay the same as it is. I can get online just fine, but according to the computer I have no connection. I have tried iTunes and Windows Media Player- same results- no sound. Windows sounds- a-ok. System restore won't work- unknown error.

I don't know what else to do or to try. It is possible that there are more items not working properly, but because I haven't used them, I don't know about them yet. Any suggestions on other things to try to figure this out would be great.