Printer not working in Win8.1 after May15 Windows updates

Hello,
After doing a batch of MS Windows updates on May 16 on an Asus laptop preinstalled with Win 8.1 Pro 64-bit installed, I have not been able to do any printing except to an older HP Deskjet F2120.
Other printers (Samsung CLP365, Lexmark E230, HP Laserjet etc) cannot be printed to.
The same problem occurs with printers regardless of network or local.
I can set up a printer using either software from the printer vendor or let Windows find the printer, and still the same problem.

The laptop is running fine apart from the printers issue and so I don't want to get a new PC, try System Restore, or anything similar.
The printer setup runs smoothly, but once the printer has been set up I go into Devices and Printers and select the printer, the following error messages come up:
Right-mouse click on Printing Preferences: 'Operation could not be completed'
Right-mouse click on Printer Properties: 'The <xyz> printer driver is not installed on this computer. Some printer properties will not be accessible unless you install the printer driver. Do you want to install the driver now?'
However, when I go into 'Printer Server Properties' and the 'Drivers' tab, the <xyz> printer driver is shown to be installed.
For exmaple, this happened yesterday when I visited some friends near work and did a test with a Brother inkjet MFP they had - the first time I had ever connected my laptop to a Brother printer.
Therein lies the conundrum ...
And just to show that it's not driver software problems ...
I can download a setup file for a Samsung printer off the Samsung website, that allows you to set up a printer without it needing to be physically there/attached to the PC.
When I run this on the laptop, it sets up OK but gets the error messages in Devices and Printers as indicated above (all since 16 May only, where the timing suggests a likely cause being one of the Windows updates).
When I run this very same driver setup file on my work PC, it sets up OK again but no error messages, instead the correct screens/boxes come up, as appeared on my laptop with the CLP-365 up until the morning of May 16.

Any advice on how to fix this, especially if any of the above suggestions may be useful, is welcome. I have no idea what to do.

Even the IT support company at work hasn't been able to find a solution.

Thanks,
John

Roll back before you installed those updates. If the printers do not have Windows 8 compatible drivers, you are stuck in a really hard place.

I’ve tried uninstalling all Windows Updates back to 16 May (except for KB3021910, which can’t be uninstalled), and still have the same error messages with trying to install printers after this.

So, I'm stumped.
Especially as over the weekend I've still be able to print to the HP DeskJet F2120 OK (but not anything else ... even when I've tried to set up a printer on the laptop for the first time).

Regards,
John