Thanks for the responses,
Yes it was in safe mode with networking. I re - ran it after re-booting and after another two days, just gave up and reset windows (8) entirely. I think one of the problems might have been that the windows updater has never worked in the two years since I bought this computer (new). And I'm pretty sure that that was because the Windows 8 was bundled with a month trial of McAffee internet security suite.
Even the resetting took a couple of days all up because there wer 140 important updates to download and install, and 6hrs of windows defender definitions. And I deleted the McAfee suite immediately this time. I think those proprietary security packages' days are numbered actually. Although I still use Malwarebytes, because it is one of the few security softwares that doesn't disable Windows defender. Looking forward to Windows 10. I think Windows 8 was a mess.
Cheers and all the best,
Stuart
Anyway, it's finally all good and thanks for the opportunity to try the Tweaking.com All in one Windows Repair Tool even if it didn't do the trick.
