0.02: Have you tried running VW in administrator mode?
I would suspect that if he only has 1 account on both rigs, he is already running as admin.
The default account when you only create 1 account in Windows is as admin. Like many of the security issues in Windows, MS sacrifices security for convenience. Most people only setup 1 account on Windows (and without even a password) and that is the admin account. Even if it's a 2 users machine and you have 2 accounts on there, that 1st one created is the admin.
It needs to be, however, how many users + 1 when doing accounts and that "+ 1" is the admin account that is only touched for specific reasons.
Even doing the right click -> run as admin probably wouldn't net one much. The biggest thing is to try to run Windows in a minimalist environment (hence Safe Mode). If it runs there, then there is a good chance that it's a software issue and more then likely related to updates, if updates were the last thing installed.
Running any program, in a perpetual state of "admin" is not a good thing (especially if it's a legacy program (I'm not saying this version of VW is a legacy program, just giving an example), which some of them did require this on too new of an OS). One of the biggest reasons why UNIX-like OSs (Linux and Mac) fair better is their devision of permissions right out of the gate. Especially if that computer is connected to an outside network. If it isn't, then do whatever you want, but if it is, even for brief moments, I wouldn't suggest running anything in perpetual admin mode. Programs shouldn't require it once it's installed.
he doesnt have the software to reload versaworks. he doesnt have the link to where he can download it, he says.
good luck and when you do figure out how to roll it back cuts windows updates off OR as Wild said keep it off the internet
In order to cut off updates on current Win 7 devices and Win 10 in general, would require a registry change. Essentially, you would have to tell the computer that both connections (wired and wireless) are metered. Yet another reason why I don't like the direction that Windows is going in.
This used to be an easy option (at least for wireless) in Win 10, just another toggle option. However, in MS' infinite wisdom, they took it out. It was never there easily for wired as the assumption is, more often then not, wired connections are not metered (not a good assumption, but I could understand it). It was even easier in Win 7 and Win 8.1 before Win 10 was on the scene.
There are pros and cons to forcing updates off (just like ticking "no updates" in previous versions of Windows, although with Win 98, it had that annoying reminder once every 24 hrs). The way that MS is doing things now, in my opinion, is not good in the enterprise/production environment (production being our environment). Bare in mind, each new build of Win 10 (Anniversary Update, Creator's Update etc) is only good for 18 months from when they original release it. If you stay on that previous build past that time, your version of Win 10 is EOL. If I'm reading the information coming from MS correctly.
That makes Windows 10 essentially a rolling release OS. Not good for an environment that needs stability. For casual users, probably be alright (although my dad, who is the only one that has Win 10 and who doesn't run niche, esoteric software always had issues with updates).
The one thing that really ticks me off is removal of options at MS' discretion. If I was to get a version of Win 10, it would be Pro (I couldn't get Enterprise, which would be the best version), for the biggest reason is being able to shut off the Win Store. They took out that ability. They can literally deprecate any ability that they want with any update. If one is running older hardware and/or running older programs, or even current programs that are using system calls that MS decides to deprecate or change how they are handled that would be a stability issue.
All of this though can be settled by just keeping it off the internet or isolate in a virtual environment to where it doesn't get internet, but the host machine does.