wuaudt.exe is really bogging down my computer

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?

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Anonymous

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!

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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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163 additional answers

Anonymous

2010-08-15T20:02:14+00:00

What's the point of beginning a new thread...?

Because EVERY computer (and software installed on a computer) is different and chances are there will NOT be one (1) fix for everybody and because I kindly asked you to do so to avoid confusion.

~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

2010-08-15T14:34:18+00:00

So, no solution for the wuauclt-svchost problem? What's the point of beginning a new thread when there are already several of them on this same issue, and in none of them is it resolved? The only thing that fixes it seems to be the disabling of Misrosoft Update on [http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate] (at least this worked in my case). I don't believe that the cause of the problem is some unknown infection. More likely it comes from Microsoft.
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Anonymous

2010-08-13T23:39:14+00:00

seeking_answers wrote: I'm experiencing exactly the same problem as the original poster (wuauclt.exe and one svchost.exe becoming memory hogs)...

First see...

What information to post in the Windows Update forum

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistawu/thread/1467f44b-ee27-4f7d-98d7-f1c4b35b3395

Then begin your own, new thread about your computer & problem to avoid further confusion.

~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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