Took the best part of 36 hours to download the updates, then download again and again................ but it seems to have worked. Now have to renew a lot of subscription services!!
Many thanks
PS I tried another HP laptop that had been in switched off for only 3 weeks after this and ... yes... once the latest MS upgrades were loaded it promptly informed me that none of the standard MS products (Word,Excel etc) were registered and locked them
Switch off and on fixed that problem
I wonder if t's purely an HP problem? My advice would be to check them weekly - especially BEFORE taking them somewhere important like a business meeting.......