Thanks for everyone's help ... I have tried the registry deletion fixes and it does not work. My problems started when my Office 2013 stopped working after installing the KB2919355 update package (which included KB291106) . After spending many hours in a remote session with both a Level 1 and a level 2 Microsoft technician, the conclusion was that the only way to resolve the Office 2013 problem is to reinstall my windows 8.1 pro. As this would require much time reloading and updating all of my software, I decided to remove the Office 2013 and reinstall my old version of Office 2010 (noting that the KB2919355 is a prerequisite to be able to get all future Windows 8.1 security updates). I thought that this solved my problems as I was able to install all of the updates... but this was not the case, I later found the folder rename and move problem which were caused by the Microsoft updates ... there may even be other problems of which I am not yet aware caused by Microsoft updates.
So I have decided not to waste any more time on looking for solutions and to reinstall the OS - hopefully this will resolve all of the problems.
I realize that the many different software and hardware combinations may lead to Windows problems but I find it difficult to understand that a level 2 Microsoft technician is unable to generate some kind of error report to more clearly identify the problem sources. I also find it hard to understand that Microsoft does not have some sort of software to repair the OS.