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
2010-09-02T23:58:27+00:00 Robear:
1. Your link takes me to Windows Update. I did the custom scan & it did NOT go nuts. (Phew!) It also didn't find any updates for me.
- Yes, xp3 is installed.
3. AVG 9.0 Free although I disabled it when I was having so many problems & haven't restarted it.
What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)? Malwarebytes & Spybot.
What third-party firewall (if any)? none, I believe.
4.Yes, both Norton & McAfee at different times.
5.Yes, Norton came pre-loaded on this machine (HP) & I used it 'til it expired and I also used McAfeefor a while.
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Anonymous
2010-09-02T22:56:38+00:00 @Leilani only: Please answer all of the following diagnostic questions by number in your next reply (no need to quote this post):
- Open the following link in a new IE tab or window & select the CUSTOM scan option: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
Does the link take you to Windows Update website (http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate) or Microsoft Update website (http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate)? [pick one]
- Is WinXP SP3 installed? [yes/no]
- What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if any)?
- Has a(nother) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the computer?
- Did a Norton or McAfee free-trial come preinstalled on the computer when you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)
~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
2010-09-02T22:30:04+00:00 Before I found this thread, per another au victim's advice, I just reset the autoupdater to once a week at 3am...
Technically, that's just when AU would (attempt to) install updates.
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft
Yep, so I just went to the MS update site you mentioned to turn it off & use the windows updater alone - but only after my system got hopelessly snarled again when I clicked yes where that page asks if we'd like to check for updates. Just out of curiosity I thought I'd see if I could get the same behavior doing it directly there and I sure did. The wuauclt.exe & svchost.exe processes went nuts as always.