Windows Update & Apps Broken

I believe a virus or trojan from a long way back damaged or corrupted the Windows Update and App components. All my metro apps cannot connect to 'servers' or the internet

and Windows Update could not even find updates until I tried to mend it myself and ran multiple fix it Microsoft applications to return the Service to my computer. Fortunately, now it searches but doesn't find anything.

I believe these fundamental components have been corrupted or deleted by a third party program (which I deleted with Norton Internet Security a while back) and my machine can no longer connect to Microsoft servers for updates and app support.

I've tried almost everything apart from a full factory reset and I'm really not planning on doing that as I don't currently have an external backup disk.

Will post any further necessary info required.

Due to the lack of interest, I can only conclude that this problem is so complex that since even I couldn't fix it, thus no one else can.

Malware and removing it can leave nasty after effects like missing files or shared .dll entries and so can removing deeply embedded programs like AVs. Best way is to keep a healthy system backup otherwise your only option would be complete system refresh or even re-installation. You can try some of the fixes form this place,Download Tweaking.com - Windows Repair - MajorGeeks some of the programs promise to replace or fix missing components.
Tweaking.com

Used the Window Repair tool above and results came back negative. Mission failed.