Can't find Windows Photo Viewer on Windows 7

You'll have to clarify things a bit.

1.  What instructions on what "updates"?  Where did you see this?

2.  What "small box next to a Photo Viewer icon" are you referring to?

3.  The information in the body of your question doesn't seem to have anything to do with "finding" Photo Viewer.  What makes you think Photo Viewer is "lost"?

4.  Navigate to some image file on your computer.  Right-click it and select "Open with"  You should see a list of programs.  Is Photo Viewer in the list?

5.  Click Start, type Default Programs into the Search box and press Enter.  You should see the following screen:

6.  Click the link to "Set your default programs."  Scroll down the list.  Is "Windows Photo Viewer" there?  If so, click on it and you should see this:

7.  If you want Windows Photo Viewer to open all of the file types that it is capable of opening, click "Set this program as default."  Otherwise, click "Choose defaults for this program" and on the next screen, check the boxes for the file types that you want to open with Photo Viewer.  Click Save and OK your way out.

Thank you so much for your prompt reply! When I attempted to download/access a graphic from the web, it notified me that I needed an updated version of Windows Photo Viewer.  I proceeded to google how to do that, and was instructed by Microsoft to access the latest Microsoft updates .. which I attempted to do.

However, while I was waiting for your response, I found another comparable graphic that didn't require Windows Photo Viewer, so I'm covered.

Thank you again for your assistance!

Thanks for letting us know that the immediate problem is solved. 

Those error messages about requiring an "updated version of Windows Photo Viewer" are invariably incorrect; the problem is usually something wrong with the image file itself.

For what it's worth, you may want to check out IrfanView, which is a free image viewer utility that can handle a wide variety of image file types.  IrfanView can also do a lot more than just view images. http://www.irfanview.com/