Brand New Laptop - Stuck On Blue "Bird" Screen After Windows 7 Automatic Update Install

I just received a brand new laptop less than 24 hours ago. It's an HP, 4 gig RAM, Windows 7 pre-installed, etc.I was using it all night on the internet, putting my music collection on iTunes, etc. I had a lot of fun and was very impressed with this laptop.The second time I turned on the computer (the first being the initial install), Windows Updates was configuring and installing all of these automatic updates that it downloaded the first time I turned off the computer. I couldn't believe my eyes, it actually said it was configuring over 22,000 updates after I booted it up. Yes, THOUSAND. This went on for less than half an hour.Then it went to "installing" the updates, which had a progress bar that reached 100% in maybe 5 minutes.Then it was "starting Windows".Then it got hung up on a blue "bird" desktop background that said Windows 7 Premium at the bottom. The mouse was completely moveable but there was absolutely no action I could take. I left it like this for 30 minutes thinking, "well, it's just installing, but it really should give me a progress bar so I know what the hell is happening."At the 45 minute mark, I couldn't take it anymore. I called HP (the manufacturer of the laptop) for support. The guy asks me for the serial number, and I regretfully wasn't pleasant. I think I said "serial number? I haven't even owned this computer for 12 hours yet!"Anyway, he had me force a shutdown. And then upon booting the computer, I got the "this computer wasn't shut down properly". This is complete BS for a computer that even as I write this,hasn't been in my possession 24 hours yet. I am returning this piece of crap, but I want to know how can I prevent this from happening to the next computer I purchase. Is it necessary to not use Windows Updates, because whoever made these has their head up their ***? I mean "configuring 22,687 updates" on a brand new, 64-bit Windows 7 machine?