Windows 7: Online Help Broken

@URTHJ

i can verify that i have the same problem, however my error from windows update is '8024402F' 'windows update encountered an unknown error'

do u also have problems updating windows defender?

No problems with Windows Defender.

I may have (inadvertently?) fixed the inability to use Windows update. I ran: Control Panel - Troubleshooting - System & Security: Fix Problems with Windows Update and after running the troubleshooter, Windows update found one optional update and, just running update again, I got a "no new updates" message (rather than an error message). Maybe it will work for you (and then, again, I'm hoping it will continue to work for me, as the troubleshooter never said it found a problem that it needed to fix)....

I still cannot access on-line help (I continue to get a message that "You've lost your connection to online Help," even though my Internet connection is working just fine).

Same problem here - no online help and it keeps saying the connection to the Internet is lost. My Internet connection works fine for browsing (even through my company's firewall). Windows update dowloaded an update okay so it works as well.