1. Did you make any changes to the computer before having the issues with Windows update?
2. What exactly do you mean when you say Media Player attempts to open commands and downloads?
I suggest that you review the updates and find out what updates are failing with what error codes.
a. Go to Windows Update in Control Panel. (Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.)
In the left pane, click Check for updates. You can review or select from any available updates before installing them.
You can check what are the recent updates failing to install and what are the exact error codes.
I also suggest that you reset the Windows update components. You can refer the below article that will give you information on this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058
You can run the Fixit that will automatically reset the Windows update components.