That shortcut may be "broken".  Try, in Internet Explorer, click Tools then "Windows Update" and see if this works.

Right click on the short cut, click properties, shortcut tab.

The target line should read

%SystemRoot%\system32\wupdmgr.exe

The start in line should read

%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%

Having made sure those entries are correct, click apply, OK.

To check that the path is correct click find target. It should open the system32 folder with wupdmgr.exe highlighted

thank you good sir. you have just sorted out something that has been bothering me for the past 2 weeks. do you know how to repair my broken shortcut?