iihad to uninstall that windows update. it removed my notification tray and clock. when i looked into it, it seems its a very buggy update causing all kinds of issues. since the Windows Update was 'optional', i just uninstalled it.
A large part of the update was for touch screen and tablet with a new streamlined design for the taskbar, which explained my particular issue. There are reports of a download error 0x80248007 that are really giving some people a hell of a time. I posted my issue on Microsoft Support but haven't heard back yet. I personally don't think the problem is Windowblinds but the update itself.