MS finally killed my computer [View all]

After the most recent "update " for Win 10 I can no longer access anything. After logging in it goes to my desktop but no menus load and every 5 seconds or so the screen flashes to black then back with nothing but my wallpaper photo. The only thing that works is the Shutdown and Restart commands. Safe Start does nothing.

I am happy to trash the laptop, even though it's only 4 years old, but I have GOT TO find a way to retrieve several folders that contain about 6 months of photos and docs. I had put them all on a flash drive back then and kept meaning to update but have just been so busy I hadn't got around to it.

So, looking for solutions online shows I am not the only one experiencing this. Allow me now to just say, "FU Microsoft!" Ahem, anyway, it was suggested to download Win10's October update onto a CD and use that as a startup disk and I have been trying that for several days using my roommate's IMac. Problem is I am rural with weak Wifi so it crashes after 4-5 hours. It says it is a 7 hr download.

Wondering: If I got a second drive and attached it, would that allow me access? Or another computer? I am using an old Acer tablet with Win8 to type this. Could I connect the two? Both have Bluetooth but of course I have no way to open it on the other computer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.