I got in with safe mode and tried to do go for a reboot from 11/28 but again it says cannot load user.

First try using F8 at the Dell logo screen at boot time, see what options are available in the F8 menu,

 

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?docid=28C12E6D3AE7A6DCE040A68F5B287EA7&c=us&l=en&s=dhs

 

there will be an option for "factory image restore" during the wizard, DO NOT use this, it will wipe all your data,

Be sure to choose "system restore" then choose a restore date before the problem occured.

Would this have been caused by recent windows updates?  Because I have not had much success in the last two days with being able to get the updates to upload properly then it said it did upload finally, and now it doesn't work.  BUt I am working on a system restore from 3 days earlier.

"Would this have been caused by recent windows updates? "

 

Possible? Yes, Do I Know for sure? No.

my computer is up and running again.  What do I need to do to keep it up and running?

 

my computer says the back up failed. and i cannot create an new user but I can delete the current user, but I am unsure of what will happen if i do

 

Can you create a new user account while in safe mode? with admin rights.