Apparently if the Windows Update icon can not popup in the Notification Area, Windows Update won’t.
windows-update-failed-with-error-80243004-notification-area

Solution:

1. Right click the START BUTTON (or any empty space on the task bar) and select PROPERTIES
2. Click the TASKBAR tab
3. Click the CUSTOMIZE button for the Notification Area
4. At the VERY bottom of the window, click on the ALWAYS SHOW ALL ICONS AND NOTIFICATIONS IN THE TASK BAR
5. Try your Windows Updates again. Note that I did not have reboot, log off or even restart services

This allowed about a third of my 20 outstanding updates to install but others still would not. I found that changing to a different profile allowed me to install the balance.