Windows Update downloading ssllooooooww...

Blackbird686

Blackbird686

SOH-CM-2026
Has anyone else experienced a noticeable slow down of download times for Windows Updates? The latest batch from September is still out there and I can't seem to get Windows 7 to download the updates I've selected. A friend of mine is experiencing the same, and in some cases... won't download at all. Everything else works and this little machine is still lightning quick for being 8 years old. I use both IE and Firefox, no probs with either. Just curious...

BB686:US-flag:
 
I'm running Windows 8.1 and at times updates are slow for it too, and that could be MS. Sometimes "peak usage" slows it down a lot too.

Run Malware Bytes. You could have something in your computer that's also slowing updates down.
 
I use both Malwarebytes and Norton Internet Securities..... Both scans came up clean. I think something is missing in the "services" department, however all of my software is updating just fine... except Windows....:frown-new:

BB686:US-flag:
 
I've tried a number of fixes for the slow Win 7 updating but the only one that worked for me is on this page: http://www.askvg.com/fix-windows-7-keeps-checking-for-updates-for-hours/ At the bottom of "Solution 1" are eight Windows Update Client updates that can be downloaded without navigating MS's labyrinth of download experiences. I simply download the eight KB's, install, then start updating Windows 7. Have used this solution on eight Windows 7 SP1 installs since early 2016.

HTH

Greg
 
lownslo said:
I've tried a number of fixes for the slow Win 7 updating but the only one that worked for me is on this page: http://www.askvg.com/fix-windows-7-keeps-checking-for-updates-for-hours/ At the bottom of "Solution 1" are eight Windows Update Client updates that can be downloaded without navigating MS's labyrinth of download experiences. I simply download the eight KB's, install, then start updating Windows 7. Have used this solution on eight Windows 7 SP1 installs since early 2016.

HTH

Greg
Click to expand...

I went to that page via the link, and downloaded the 8 Windows Updates. I ran the first one as administrator, and the install "hangs" with "Searching for Updates on this Computer" message. There is a "fixit" tool from Microsoft for Windows Update which is supposed to diagnose and repair any issues found. When I run the executable it cycles through and gets to the "Resolving Issues" message and then hangs... forever! Using the "Process Explorer" utility it does show that 24% of the CPU is tied up with the Windows Update service (Wuauclt.exe), under (svchost.exe).

Everything else in the machine works perfectly. Both Norton and Malwarebytes scans came up clean. Interesting....:dizzy:

BB686:US-flag:
 
I've never had trouble downloading, but I went for about two years without receiving any updates at all. I thought MS had just quit updating W7. Then a few months back, I got a notification of over 100 updates waiting! I've been getting them regularly ever since.
 
A long time ago I subscribed to a notification from MS on their updates. Most of the critical ones come on the second Tuesday of each month, but they sometimes will show up on the following Thursday or even the fourth Tuesday. This is for both the OS and the MS Office products for my Desktop Win8.1 and the wife's Laptop Win7.0. I perform a manual install on each and both are set to notify me of updates, but allow me to select the install.

I have the GWX Control Panel installed on both machines to prevent any Win10 stuff from being installed. On occasion there are updates that I just "hide" because of the Win10 features. The remaining "critical" updates get installed, whereas I exercise caution on any "optional" updates. At one time I installed some "optional" drivers on the wife's machine only to have to restore everything since it screwed up her audio.

My process is to update my desktop first and make sure all were successful installs, then do the wife's laptop. My i7 machine takes the downloads quickly, whereas the wife's i3 laptop takes much longer. Other than that, there is an occasional slowdown only in locating the updates but no major issues once I elect to install them.
 
Blackbird686 said:
Everything else in the machine works perfectly. Both Norton and Malwarebytes scans came up clean. Interesting....:dizzy: BB686:US-flag:
Click to expand...

Meh, these computers sometimes seem far more confounding than interesting :banghead:

Of course, the obvious questions... did you disable Norton before trying to install? Is Malwarebytes the free version (that only scans without interfering with installs)?

I should note that all of the updates I've utilized from that website are on fresh installs of Win7 64bit SP1. Evenso, did you try installing the other 7 KB's after the first hung?

Good luck,

Greg
 
Problem resolved, but not without a lot of steps. After a clean reboot, had to run a DOS program that completely resets everything within the Windows Update program in Win7. Had to shut off the anti-virus for that. After another re-boot I was able to install the Critical Update from Microsoft that was needed to be able to connect, download and install Windows Updates. Apparently Microsoft made some changes on their end and if one had an outdated Windows Update Client on their PC, the download process would just hang there and use up resources... I had the help of Microsoft Support... chap by the name of Kevin, he gets all the kudos for the resolution to this nagging little issue. I had all of the necessary updates downloaded manually so Kevin went in and just picked out the ones he needed. Thanks to lownslo for posting the link in this thread which allowed me to download the necessary files manually, and for all the other suggestions posted in this thread from you chaps. Saved some time during the fixing process.

BB686:US-flag:
 
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