On 11/14/2013 5:20 PM, Graham wrote:
I have windows xp sp3 and as of this months latest MS update my machine has been completely screwed. It appears many others have suffered the same fate but a trawl of the internet has not yet revealed a workable solution.

For those not familar the story goes as follows:

1. Within about a minute of start up the machine grinds to a halt.

2. Microsoft Security Essentials tells me my computer is no longer protected.

3. Inspection of the task manager shows that one of the svchost entries is maxing out the cpu.

4. Detailed investigation shows that it is the windows update service that is responsible.

5. Stopping the service releases the cpu and the machine flies along as usual

6. I can no longer get updates anf MSI is very unhappy!!!

I have tried system restore to get back to a state before the last MS update but alarmingly system restore no longer works. All the restore points are there but whenever I run restore it goes through its complete rountine only to come up with "failed to restore - try another restore point" I have run all the usual anti virus/malware applications which all give the all clear.

I have also tried all the possible fixes I have found so far. Most have not worked and some have made matters worse. Curremtly I have managed to undo all the negative fixes but the problem remains.

Anyone know of a permanent fix to this problem or is this just another case of MS taking its eye off the XP ball with April 2014 looming. This is the third problem with windows update in almost as many months.

Graham.


I've experienced the recent updates issue as you described,
too. Turns out the fix was ultimately overcoming my
impatience. What worked for me was to allow the update
process to continue, even though svchost maxed the CPU to
100%. I just let it run, and did _nothing_ else with the PC
for that time. I waited _30_ minutes (not a typo) and it
finally gave me the update screen, so I selected various XP
and IE updates. I had to do this twice in one week. Once
the latest round of updates downloaded and installed, it
returned to its usual cycle-time (30-60 secs to check and
respond).

Not a fix, of course, just a work-around for a crummy
situation. Good luck.