August 2015 Windows Update for Vista Requires One Hour to Run to Completion

@Great White North only and assuming you're still having problems! =>

Please answer each of the following [admittedly tedious] diagnostic questions in a correspondingly-numbered list in your very next reply, preferably without quoting my post:

1. When (approx. date) did you purchase the HP computer?

1b. Have you ever had occasion to do a Repair Install or a clean install of Windows Vista?

2. What is the full name & version of your installed anti-virus application or security suite (e.g., Norton Security with Backup version 22.x) and when (approx. date) does your current subscription expire or auto-renew? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender) are installed? What third-party firewall (if any)?

3a. Has a(nother) Norton application or a McAfee application EVER been installed on the computer since you bought it?

3b. Did a Norton free-trial or a McAfee free-trial [pick one] come preinstalled on the computer when you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)

4. Have you ever run the Norton Removal Tool and/or the McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool?
5. Is KB3154070, KB3158991, KB3156013, KB3156016, KB3156017, KB3156019, KB3155178, KB314108, KB3153171, KB3153199  and/or KB3142023 listed in Installed Updates (notUpdate History)? [1]
6. Assuming Java is installed => Is Java Version 8 Update 91 (or higher) installed? TEST HERE USING INTERNET EXPLORER ONLY! => http://java.com/en/download/uninstallapplet.jsp [2]

• Java Update: Patch it or pitch it

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/07/java-update-patch-it-or-pitch-it/

• Is it time to disable/uninstall Java?

http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2013/01/java-zero-day-again-time-to.html

7. Is Adobe Flash Player v21.0.0.242 (or higher) installed? TEST HERE USING INTERNET EXPLORER ONLY! => http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/
8. What Update Version & KB number are displayed in the second line of textin IE9's Help | About [Alt+H+A] tab; e.g., Update Version: 9.0.54 (KB9876543) ?
9. Is Firefox version 46.0.1 (or higher) and/or Google Chrome version 51 (or higher) or any other alternate browser installed?
10. Are you in the habit of using "Registry cleaners" (e.g., Registry Mechanic; System Mechanic; RegCure; RegClean Pro; Advanced SystemCare; Total System Care; Glary Utilities; Registry Booster; McAfee QuickClean; AVG Quick Clean; AVG PC TuneUp; Norton Registry Cleaner; Norton PC Tuneup; PCTools Optimiser; SpeedUpMyPC; FixMyPC; PC Doctor; TuneUp Utilities; WinMaximizer; WinSweeper; Comodo System Cleaner; Advanced System Optimizer; CCleaner Registry Cleaner component)?

==================================================

[1] Start | Control Panel | Programs and Features | View installed updates (in left-hand menu)

[2] No need to install Java if it's not already installed!

[Last Revised - 12 May 2016]

Try this one,

Windows Update Hangs

Hi HFM47:

I'm not certain what you would consider "definitive" but I've been posting in the VistaForums thread that Mooly01 recommended since post # 18 (18-Aug-2015) under the username lmacri, and I provided a link to that thread in my original post.  If anyone learns the root cause of the slow Windows Updates or finds a workaround that works better than the one Dalai posted at ***Search for Windows Updates takes forever? - A possible solution*** then it will likely be mentioned there.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v46.0.1 * IE9 * NIS v21.7.0.11

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS

Try this one,

Windows Update Hangs

I think we have to seriously wonder why this company hasn't already fixed this problem for us.

I think, for one thing, there are too many people posting on various sites around the Net for it to be claimed by company executives that this should not be a concern for them because it is only bothering a few people with bad machines.  In other words, I think we can point the finger at Microsoft being at the heart of the problem without being shot down as fools.

By the way, I used the "turn off Windows Update" technique to stop the Task Manager from going beserk all the time and I see that the MSE program still gets its updates without any trouble.  I assume somebody has already posted that information, but I will confirm that turning off Windows Update doesn't cause trouble with MSE, if anyone is interested.

A question, if I may, is there any other thread on the Net that can claim to be the definitive thread on this topic?

Here are a few more Vista users who reported the temporary workaround suggested in my previous 16-May-2016 post significantly reduced the time "Checking for updates..." spent searching for available updates.  If you managed to install your April 2016 Patch Tuesday updates last month you should only have to pre-install one missing Win32k.sys update listed on Dalai's webpage ***Search for Windows Updates takes forever? - A possible solution*** - KB3153199 - before running Windows Update to download your remaining May 2016 Patch Tuesday updates.

      copiman:          Current tips on updates

      Ichabod22:       Vista Windows update hangs with "checking for updates"

      Intelektualista: *Windows Vista Update Hangs at "Checking For Updates"*

      SorinCas:          Windows Vista Won't Install New Updates After SP2 Installed

Just an aside, but I also posted comments in post # 162 of the VistaForums thread windows update just seems to hang while checking about a similar problem that Win XP users experienced three years ago after Win 8.1 was released.  From Woody Leonhard's old November 2013 article Microsoft to fix Windows XP update SVCHOST redline issue 'soon':

"In other words, when you run Windows Update, the program has to bang against Microsoft's internal database of patches and figure out which patches need to be applied and which ones have been superseded and can be ignored. Since IE6 and IE7, in particular, have been around since the dawn of time, that's an enormous pile of patches to sort through."

I don't know if Vista is currently suffering from the identical issue but I wonder now if Microsoft could permanently fix these slow Windows Updates in Vista and Win 7 by expiring some of the outdated updates in the supersedence chain for programs like the IE browser and the MS .NET Framework.

32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox v46.0.1 * IE9 * NIS v21.7.0.11

HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS