Thanks for the info! I've opted out of Microsoft Updates as you and PA Bear have suggested. Keeping my fingers crossed that everything works normally tomorrow!
wuaudt.exe is really bogging down my computer
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Anonymous
Recently, when I first start my computer for the day, wuaudt.exe runs and really bogs down my computer. In Task Manager it shows it is using a lot of memory along with one of the many svchost.exe's that are running. I had my computer set up to notify me when updates are available. I have investigated this problem and found about the only thing to do is disable automatic updates altogether. I have turned off Automatic Updates, unchecked Automatic Updates under the Services tab in msconfig and in services.msc I have set Automatic Updates to manual. This seems to keep wuaudt.exe from running. I read in one place that Microsoft issues updates on the first and third Tuesday's of each month so I plan on doing manual updates at those times. Does anyone know why wuaudt.exe is suddenly such a memory hog? It only seems to be a problem the first time I time turn my computer on (I turn it off when not in use to save electricity). If I shut it off and restart it later in the day, there is not a performance problem. I have a Dell Dimension 5100C, Windows XP Pro SP3, 512 MB RAM, Pentium 4 3.00 Ghz processor.
I would like to be able to be notified of critical updates when they are issued but I don't want wuaudt.exe running every day if it is going to bog me down. Any ideas?
Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
Update: Due primarily to exchanges with several MS MVPS on the behalf of users like you, Microsoft is aware of and has acknowledged the issue:
"We have gotten reports from multiple sources and consider this to be a live service issue and we are investigating it as a Priority 1."
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft
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Anonymous
2010-08-16T17:27:13+00:00 It is not a fix to disable Microsoft Update. And there is no reason to start throwing dirt at each other.
Maybe this problem is not affecting every XP SP3 user, but those affected - myself included - really are hurting. For the past month or so my PC is doing Microsoft Update for at least 40 min. a day. Typically WU-agent schedules itself every (approx.) 21 hour !!?? Besides, when MSE finds an update - which it does daily - it triggers the WU-agent. When MSE and the WU-agent both decide to update at the same time - I am out for at least a hour! That is a real problem. Symptoms are as described in this thread and other. It seems as if memory is overloaded. I believe paging is the true performance problem.
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Anonymous
2010-08-16T16:46:03+00:00 Microsoft Update is the default update source on all of my computers and all of my clients' computers and none of the computers have experienced the behavior you & so many others have described in this and other similar threads. So what's MS supposed to fix? Why are you and others seeing this behavior when the vast majority of other users aren't? (Believe me, this forum would be SWAMPED if everyone were seeing this behavior and such is NOT the case.)
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Visit the Microsoft Virus Solution and Security Center for resources and tools to keep your PC safe and healthy. If you are having issues with installing the update itself, visit Support for Microsoft Update for resources and tools to keep your PC updated with the latest updates.
Customers who experience issues installing Microsoft security updates also can visit the following page for assistance:https://consumersecuritysupport.microsoft.com/
For more information about how to contact your local Microsoft subsidiary for security update support issues, visit the International Support Web site:http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx
For enterprise customers, support for security updates is available through your usual support contacts.
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft
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Anonymous
2010-08-16T16:22:52+00:00 At the moment it is better to have Windows updates and a computer that is useable. Im sure Microsft will release a fix soon so I can then return to Microsoft Updates again. As i Have a server with all things backed up and images of all the computers im sure it is worth the risk.