windows update just seems to hang while checking.

[lmacri]

I received notification of Updates today after 30 minutes of waiting so I thank this thread for letting me know to wait. I still don't understand why this occurring and maybe someone can explain to me why Trusted Install completely hogs my CPU for 5-10 minutes after installing Updates.

Hi VFN:

I found this comment in the Drivers.com article How to resolve trustedinstaller.exe high CPU usage that might explain the CPU usage by the Windows Trusted Installer late in the Windows Update process:

"You may also find trustedinstaller.exe consuming a major portion of CPU resources for some time after new updates have been downloaded. This again is normal behavior. This process is designed to continue checking for new updates for some time after completion of the update scan. This, in turn, helps ensure that all available new updates are downloaded to your pc."

These slow Windows Updates started on my computer in August 2015 and typically consume 50% of my total CPU (i.e., complete saturation of one of my dual cores). I believe the AMD Sempron LE-1300 CPU in your Dell Inspiron 546 is a single core CPU so it wouldn't be surprising if the CPU consumption was much higher on your machine.

FWIW, this month's January 2016 Patch Tuesday Windows Update (11 Important updates - 9 for Vista / IE9 plus 2 for MS Office) completed today without errors but still took just over 1 hour from start to finish, with the "Checking for updates..." phase requiring about 40 min (from the 85 to 45 min marks in the image below) on my 32-bit Vista machine.


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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox 43.0.4 * NIS 2014 v. 21.7.0.11
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

 

[VFN]

Thanks, lmacri. TrustedInstall is a pain after Updates. I've been having slow Updates for a while myself but not in terms of notification. (I set Updates to Notify.)

 

[ilikefree]

BTW, if I start the update what can I do to stop it if I don't want to wait? Just end the svchost.exe process? Can I do that safely? Is there any other process I should stop?

Thanks.

You can stop it, then, treat it like a stuck update and do the following

Go to start search box and type

cmd

Right click and select run as administrator

In the box that opens type

net stop wuauserv

press enter

type

ren c:\windows\softwaredistribution sd.old

press enter

type

net start wuauserv

press enter

restart computer


What this does
Windows updates are kept in a folder called Software Distribution
This series of commands stops Windows update service
Renames the software distribution folder to softwaredistribution.old
restarts the Windows update service

When you restart the computer the software distribution folder is recreated.
Windows will look again for updates

 

[townsbg]

I'm not sure what you're responding to here. if you saw sarcasm in my response there was none. Waiting, which a few people spoke about I think, allowed me to complete the Update process. I'm always appreciative of any responses I get to my questions here regardless of their helpfulness and always voice that.

My mistake. I thought that you where being sarcastic.

 

[VFN]

Thanks, ilikefree and no problem, townsbg.

 

[Vistaar]

No Patch Tuesday horror stories? Sure, updating Windows took an hour, but my PC didn't blow a fuse so why should I?

Don't worry, be happy.

 

[VFN]

No Patch Tuesday horror stories? Sure, updating Windows took an hour, but my PC didn't blow a fuse so why should I?

Don't worry, be happy.

Just an hour? Today I had 12 updates I think which, after the IE update failing initially of course, took closer to two hours! lol

 

[Vistaar]

More RAM might help somewhat, as gurus have been telling you elsewhere.

 

[VFN]

More RAM might help somewhat, as gurus have been telling you elsewhere.

As far as the task manager, I don't recall my RAM ever being highly taxed. My CPU is another story.

 

[ilikefree]

I only have 2 GB of ram although the Windows Vista 32-bit operating system can theoretically and technically use and support more than 4GB of physical memory or RAM by using PAE (Physical Address Extension) to access the memory remapped by the mainboard or motherboard above the 4GB address boundary, however, the x86 Vista really only manages 3.7 GB

 

[Vistaar]

But VFN is running x64.

So ilikefree, is Windows Update still no problem in New Zealand? There was a recent post from Spain: http://www.vistax64.com/windows-updates/304329-completely-stuck-updates.html

 

[ilikefree]

I can only answer for myself and can say I have no problems with it at the moment.
I did have a period about a month ago when it was very slow but they still went through if left to do it's thing.
I should point out I always set Windows update to notify me of available updates and not automatic.
I do get a nag message in security center telling me updates are not automatic but as I never look in my security center I don't care.
I have other programs that monitor my computer security state

 

[townsbg]

The nag can be turned off in security center.

 

[townsbg]

I didn't have any problems with updates.

 

[VFN]

I didn't have a problem yesterday which was just a Defender update.

 

[Teknoskillz]

Hiya - My Vista home laptop has had this issue for a while now. I know for a fact it had some nasty malware on it that would regenerate upon removal. I finally broke down and purchased Spyhunter which removed it , and seems to have intercepted it at boot and done some extra housekeeping to remove it. Since then its not been back, and I had thought it fixed the Windows "timeout" update issue too, but later on it returned. There was a fix I tried on a youtube video which was merely removing what seemed to be 2 empty registry keys in regedit , which I believe may have been what really fixed it, but I cant find that video again. If I do Ill post it here. I have a hunch something else may be regenerating because if I run a sfc/ scannow in safe mode, it finds some corruptions, fixes them but cant fix them all, so I suspect this could be really whats the core issue. My Vista Ultimate x64 machine also has a issue where scannow locates corruptions, fixes them and they return next boot.

 

[Vistaar]

Welcome to Vista Forums, Teknoskillz. I do not think the Windows Update issue discussed in this thread is caused by either malware or corrupt system files, e.g. my system has neither. If you are seeking help with corruption reported by sfc, please start a new thread.

Lately I've been reading about Windows 10. and came across this: Windows 10 uses your bandwidth to send other people updates - Windows 10 Forums. This seems to confirm that Microsoft is trying to economize on server usage for Windows updates, to say the very least.

 

[Teknoskillz]

Hiya Vistaar

Thanks for the welcome. Its just a theory I have not proven yet regarding the scannow findings. However its very coincidental, and system files do very often seem to come up corrupted during a check on that OS, and also on my Vista Ultimate 64 bit system. If one were to want to hijack Windows Update, I would imagine system files would be a very sneaky way to do it.

In my case, I dont believe the problem is the MS server being overloaded, because Windows update on my Ultimate 64 bit system never has not been out of the update loop at all in many years of use. Unless they use a seperate server for Vista ultimate, is the only way I guess this could be true. However the laptop with Vista home 32 bit, was fine until the nasty malware hit it months ago, so I am convinced its something to do with it. Still, I could be wrong, but if I find something solid , will post it here.

Welcome to Vista Forums, Teknoskillz. I do not think the Windows Update issue discussed in this thread is caused by either malware or corrupt system files, e.g. my system has neither. If you are seeking help with corruption reported by sfc, please start a new thread.

Lately I've been reading about Windows 10. and came across this: Windows 10 uses your bandwidth to send other people updates - Windows 10 Forums. This seems to confirm that Microsoft is trying to economize on server usage for Windows updates, to say the very least.

 

[townsbg]

Lately I've been reading about Windows 10. and came across this: Windows 10 uses your bandwidth to send other people updates - Windows 10 Forums. This seems to confirm that Microsoft is trying to economize on server usage for Windows updates, to say the very least.

I think I saw that on the 10 upgrade I did. I don't remember if that could be turned off but I want to say that it can. I bet M$ put that in to try and take the load off of their servers.

 

[lmacri]

My Vista home laptop has had this issue for a while now. I know for a fact it had some nasty malware on it that would regenerate upon removal. I finally broke down and purchased Spyhunter which removed it ...I had thought it fixed the Windows "timeout" update issue too, but later on it returned.

I have a hunch something else may be regenerating because if I run a sfc/ scannow in safe mode, it finds some corruptions, fixes them but cant fix them all, so I suspect this could be really whats the core issue. My Vista Ultimate x64 machine also has a issue where scannow locates corruptions, fixes them and they return next boot.

Hi Teknoskillz:

On my machine, these slow Windows Updates where the "Checking for updates..." phase can hang for 30 to 60 min during monthly Patch Tuesday updates do not appear to be related to a corrupted OS or malware. System File Checker (SFC) doesn't report any integrity problems with my 32-bit Vista OS (see image below). I initially suspected a malware infection but a malware removal specialist did not find any signs of malware on my system - see my Aug 2015 thread in Malwarebytes' Malware Removal Help forum titled Can't Run Windows Update After PUP.Optional.Spigot.A Removal.



Windows Sysinternals forum administrator MagicAndre1981 posted <here> that Microsoft released a patch (KB3050265) for the Win 7 Update Client to fix a similar problem on some Win 7 machines. This Windows Update Client for Windows 7: June 2015 at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265 reads in part:

• This update addresses an issue in which system performance can be decreased during scans. This issue has the greatest effect on computers that have a small amount of physical memory.

At this point my best guess is that the Windows Update Client for Vista has a similar flaw that needs to be patched by Microsoft, or that Microsoft is deliberately throttling bandwidth during updates to give priority to Win 10 users. It's also possible that Vista users who see "Checking for updates..." hang for long periods of time have some software that runs in real-time (e.g., an anti-virus program) that is interfering with their Windows Update service (wuauserv) and/or connection to the backend Windows Update servers.

Just an aside, but you might want to read malware removal specialist quietman7's comments about SpyHunter in the bleepingcomputer thread spyhunter vs malwarebytes vs iobit. I'd suggest that you post in their Virus, Trojan, Spyware, and Malware Removal Logs board (read their Preparation Guide before posting) and let an expert perform a thorough diagnostic of your system for free.
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32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox 44.0.2 * NIS 2014 v. 21.7.0.11 * MBAM Premium 2.2.0
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS