Immediately after I updated [automatic] win 8.1, I can no longer open "any" of my programs, including firefox, chrome, etc.
All it does is open it for a second in a very small window, and disappears with that second.

Then I rolled back the windows update [system restore], but it did not fix anything. Still the same problem now.

None of my shortcuts have changed, everything looks proper - just nothing opens now.

Using a backup did not help either.

Appreciate your help

I am running win 8.1 and have had no problems, would suggest you install and run something like 'Malwarebytes' as its possible you have been infected.

Thank you for your comment. But I have malwarebytes running all the time, of course also did a manual in-depth scan before posting here.