i heard somewhere that windows update doesn't work because the language entry in IE is erased somehow..
to fix this, go to Tools > internet options , click on "Languages" , click on "Add" and then select your language which is most likely "English (United States) [en-us]" then click OK and OK..

you may need to restart IE for the changes to take place, not sure of this.. but after that, your problem should be solved

i hope this helps,
Blackwar