Strange Problem with Windows Live Update, or is it?:]

[ahhaa]

My oldest laptop is a Tosh running dual boot Mint & Vista; with security kept current by Norton 360.
(I keep the Vista for a couple old programs like textbridge that I don't use often but don't want to pay for.)

Anyroads, for the last couple days I've been getting the typical Live Update message with all its security patches, and first I told it to go ahead, but not with the Malicious Software Tool and a couple others for Office (which I never use) that were large as I wanted to get on with things.

Well, after several hours, Windows was still 'preparing' nothing had come in, even while sitting idle. No probs with the router, wifi, etc as I was using another machine.

So after a while I quit, restarted and blocked all except a couple updates that were measured in K instead of megs, shoulda taken a few minutes at most.
No deal, on a couple tries, even tho the Windows update Icon kept reappearing. Sometimes I'd see a HD activity flicker but mostly not.

Same thing is hppening today, and I'd wondering what's up. Is there malware that'd behave like this?

thanks!

[sambat]

Is there malware that'd behave like this?

I think it's called Windows Update.
Recent similar behaviour; after hours of nothing I tried to reboot and couldn't unless I killed the power.
Later result was couldn't shutdown or log off.
Resolved by using a saved image and turned off updates.
I expect that it was actually installing updates without permish.

[Poppa_Meth]

I know a lot of people having issue with Windows Update on Win 7 and 8 right now. IMO it's one more way MS is trying to force you to upgrade to Win 10, since oddly enough Win 10 is updating just fine. One friend with Win 7 finally got his updates after letting it check for a little over 8 hours.

[jagabo]

I know a lot of people having issue with Windows Update on Win 7 and 8 right now. IMO it's one more way MS is trying to force you to upgrade to Win 10, since oddly enough Win 10 is updating just fine. One friend with Win 7 finally got his updates after letting it check for a little over 8 hours.

Yes, I'm seeing very long times now too. The computer is stuck at "checking for updates" for hours with the CPU running 25% (quad core, svchost.exe), then finally updates. This is orders of magnitude longer than it took just a few months ago. And I agree, it's another attempt by Microsoft to push users to Win10.

[ron spencer]

I have given up on windows update and turned it off. Just manually download the updates...much faster and easier. Mind you these are security updates only, but I really only care about those.