I concur, updating to 4.3 does or has no benefit to do so. It only allows access to the shop channel. However there is a workaround for that.
If you have already upgraded your wii, like the lemming you are, you can download and re-install the HackMii installer to regain functionality again. However you will also have to apply all of the softmods all over again to get things like game backups working; possibly even WiiMC as well.
You can get HackMii from their website: http://bootmii.org/download/