Why are Windows updates so slow (and long) with VISTA

I am doing a fresh install of Windows 7 64bit right now. And I have to tell you its to slow for me. Recently I have been just annoyed with Windows.You used to be able to look up error messages on google. Now it searches for a problem and says you will be notified if there is a solution. I have a real questions here. So don't everyone answer all at once. Has anyone ever, ever, ever been notified of a fix to a problem?

I never have and the same message is in Vista as well. I have ha Vista and Windows 7 for four years or more. I have never been notified about anything. And also back in the XP/98 days you used to be able to download most of the updates from the internet. And install them separately without Windows update interference. I understand there are reasons why we can't do that now. But please this process needs to be a lot more painless than it is!!

I'm on my second day of installing updates at a painfully slow pace since reinstalling Vista yesterday. The reason I had to reinstall was because Vista had become so slow and erratic my machine was virtually unuseable. I've done a speedtest on my connection and it's running at about 4Mb/s, but has taken about 2 hours to get half way through a 107Mb update and now doesn't seem to be downloading anything at all. Anyway, I've had enough of Windows, I certainly won't be buying Windows 7; Microsoft have had too much of my money and failed to deliver... my plan is to install Ubuntu with a dual boot and only use Vista when I absolutely have to....

.. So 2 years on (since the original post) and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Good on ya Microsoft !!!

Updates are way too slow.

I can just imagine what world would be like when everything moves into the "cloud".

Wow!  Wasn't expecting to see this many recent posts!  I'm doing a clean install for my stepmother.  After having the Update DL basically hang at 88%, I got frustrated, stopped, and then cut the DL down to 50MB (Security Updates only).  It's been over 1 hr on a cable connection, and is still only at 18 of 54 on the install side. 

On a side note, I don't seem to have a long wait for window 7 updates.  However, my company provides us imaged HDs which already had most of the updates, so I'm only taking small ones weekly.  Although, I assume all W7 updates just after a reformat is just as brutal as Vista.

IMHO, they need to stop trying to innovate and increase user experience for existing products.  All this captial, and yet worried about capping DL speeds....

Ubuntu can update important info and not have to restart. When they do ask to restart your computer it takes less than 30 seconds to do so. Experiment and choose wisely.