Windows 8 apps gone after update/can't restore!

Hi,

My brother installed an update on his windows 8 laptop this morning. After doing so, all his apps/programs and everything were gone. It was just a blank start up page and blank desktop (except google chrome for some reason.) I tried a system restore twice, and a scan to see if that would fix it. Nothing worked, so I decided to just reset his laptop to factory settings as a last resort. However, pressing shift + F8 upon start up or space bar F8 did not bring up the windows restore option page (whatever it is called, bear with me!) The only other way to get to it would be "change pc settings" on the desktop. I clicked that and that isn't working either. Nothing comes up. Please help! I am extremely new to windows 8 and don't know what to do!!

Thanks,
Heather

Edit: forgot to add that he does not have win8 discs!

Reboot your system. As the system boots, and starts to load your use profile, see if it says "Preparing Windows" - Then when it comes up, look for any messages that may say a Temporary Profile has been loaded.

To make sure, use Explorer, go in to "users" and look for a "user" named "Temp" - If you have this, then indeed, your profile has failed and a temp profile has been loaded up.