The fix is to open the registry editor using REGEDIT, navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Policies \ Microsoft \ Windows node, find the WindowsUpdate node, and DELETE the “WindowsUpdate” node. Close REGEDIT and reboot the machine. This will restore your machine to the default “Automatic Updates” functionality that the machine should have had when it was shipped from Dell.
From there, you can then go to Control Panel | Windows Update and configure the machine to use Automatic Updates as you wish.