@Laureenfischer, the best place for official Microsoft support is through https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/contactus/technicalsupport. There are rumours that Microsoft has waived the fee for security related updates.
That's encouraging....I'll try them. The game has escalated somewhat at my end
as in addition to the problems I'm having updating my 2 year old Asus/Windows 8.1,
my wife's Desktop/Windows XP has just announced that Windows needs re-activating.
The support for XP ended in April 2014 so suddenly my wife, who is nearing exam
time with a University degree course has a machine that is potentially unusable as
UK Tech Support is refusing to provide help.
I find it nothing less than astonishing that a company with the technical and financial
resources of Microsoft has let this situation escalate this far. Non-windows OS
providers must be rubbing their hands with glee.