[POLL] Windows Update Problems ?

[Spoetnik]

So i am curious if Windows 8 / 10 users are plagued with this high CPU usage problem too.

This has been going on for a loooong long time i see on Windows 7.
I have seen it on my own machine and on fresh installs.
Then when searching online i see a LOT of people complaining.

Worst of all it has no real fix / solution.
It just ends up roaring right back again later eventually.

I was seeing it again now and i knew there was going to be updates available
because all of a sudden i had 25% CPU usage non stop for about 30 hours.
It stopped and i looked RIGHT NOW and surprise surprise i see 10 new updates.
I have tracked it before and it is for sure Windows Update Service doing it.
I think it's hashing files or something if i had to guess exactly.
Hard to tell from the giant WU logs or event viewer etc.

Also on a fresh install recently from different source media for Windows 7
i seen the updates eventually fail and would not proceed.
You then have to go online and find a pile of fixes to try etc.

I have researched this a LOT many times and dug up various bits of info.
Such as a Microsoft employee or Forum staffer claimed that the problem at the root was..
There is now these days far too many updates compared to when Windows 7 launched.

Anyway i think Microsoft is leaving it with this nasty problem in an effort to lure users
to simply upgrade to Windows 10 ..i never seen any Windows 10 users saying they had this issue online.
I think they pretty much sabotaged Windows 7 and gave us the middle finger.
So they can push Windows 10 on us all !

Not gonna work on me  

And with moderate CPU usage "it" heats up my machine and wastes a ton of electricity
and then limits what other things i can do.. the only solution is to disable the Service.
Soon as it 's re-enabled it goes right back to draining your machine though.
And no it is NOT scanning for updates either.. it seems to be entirely independent of all that.
For example you will see the update list finished and the High Usage go on for another 20 hours.

I am getting sick of it ..i have been struggling with this for around 2 years i guess.
It's a big chunk of my power bill at this point.
And after 2 years they have made no improvement ?
Microsoft is a shit show of incompetent retarded clowns.
Windows 7 is the last OS or product of theirs i ever use ..i can't stand them !

So ?

Vote  


EDIT:

I Googled the keywords "High CPU Usage Problem on Windows Update ?"

About 6,370,000 results (0.48 seconds)

Yeah.. 6.3 million results 

[High Plains Drifter]

My Dell updated to Windows 10 about a month ago after I prevented it from doing so for a lot longer than that.  Now I have pop-up adds everywhere and slow downloads of a lot of webpages.  Long story short, I'm ridding myself of this problem by getting something with a Chrome operating system in the near future.  Me and Windows are parting ways forever!

[BADecker]

I run Windows 8. Some time ago I heard about 2 files in C:\Windows\WinSxS that would send info to Microsoft without my authorization. I changed the names of these files. Shortly after that, when Update time came, there was one particular file that would not download. Since then, all kinds of files that are based off this one file won't download anymore. Windows 10 has not been a problem for me.

I don't remember what I did, but it worked. Part of what I had to do was to boot up from a Flash Drive Linux OS, and change the Windows file names through Linux. Windows wouldn't let me make the changes directly while running Windows.

I run an old Linux machine as well. It works a lot faster. So, I probably will go over to Linux as my main OS. Does anybody have any idea which Linux OS is best, and why?

[MisO69]

The high CPU utilization happens when you don't have a registered copy of Winbloze 7. That is the reason why its called Microsoft Malware. They did this last august during the big push to Winspyonu 10.

I would have installed Linux by now if it wasn't for GTA 5.

[Spoetnik]

My theory is the process is triggered close to updates being made available..

Then i think what it's doing is a combo of things.
I think it is possibly hashing files related to updates to verify them etc.
And also collecting telemetry data to send off.
There *IS* pulses of net activity going outbound when it does it occasionally.
There is key Windows folders & files that get bloated while this happens too.

I highly doubt it has anything to do with activation matters.
I HAVE Google it a million times and many people have provided PROOF they are legit.
And STILL have the EXACT same problem !

I suspect the way they coded WU to work and the combo of far too many KB's out
since Windows 7's initial launch has led to a massive problem.
And they have tried to update / fix the WU client to address this.
So i am not making it up read the notes for the update.

MS will tell you on a fresh install now to immediately get the new client update for WU.
ASAP !

So yes.. installing from your Retail Windows 7 DVD is fucked up !
I seen it happen a on retail HP Laptop recovery partition and with the retail disc.
The Disc was used with a pirated copy that does OEM emulation.. via Windows Loader.
And the Laptop was bought with an OEM license embedded in the BIOS (just like Windows loader)
BOTH legit and pirated had the same exact identical problem !

The issue is few people watch their CPU usage 24/7.
And since it uses a max of 25% of your CPU power.. many people would never notice.
Not me though..
I have a custom OSD i made that shows me what everything is doing 24/7.
SO i see clearly when my CPU usage rockets up to 25% plus+ ..for 2 days etc.

I was going to re-encode a video when i noticed it last time the other day..
And i am not going to while it's doing that bullshit.
Using 100% of my CPU makes it over heat now in the summer.

(I have the specs i mentioned earlier) ..and central AC in house.
The max for my old AMD Athlon x64 9950 BE is about 64 degrees.
And if i go and run a video encode now it shoots up from 45 degress to 65
and i have to pause the encode until the CPU cools down.

So this extra hassle of WU draining my machine all the time going on 2 years now
is a huge inconvienance for me.

Windows update is clearly broken when you factor in the 2 points (High Usage + Fresh Install Update Failure)

AND..

It's been a couple years of this shit NON STOP !
The mediocre half ass efforts they have put in to fixing it is a joke.
Their -REAL- solution is to push users to "upgrade" (I use that term loosely) ..to Windows 10.  

..sorry i don't need an ugly bloated APP's platform that can't even do what Windows 7 does.

Note:
I can't even upgrade because i need to have Windows Media Center
And it is blacklisted and not available to Windows 10 users.

EDIT: Spelling

[Spoetnik]

same problem and how to reduce cpu usage memory

You can't really you have to just let it do it's thing.
It's just how it works now i believe eh..

[MrTom1]

So i am curious if Windows 8 / 10 users are plagued with this high CPU usage problem too.

This has been going on for a loooong long time i see on Windows 7.
I have seen it on my own machine and on fresh installs.
Then when searching online i see a LOT of people complaining.

Worst of all it has no real fix / solution.
It just ends up roaring right back again later eventually.

Yup. I've been seeing this since around the beginning of this year. I work in a computer shop and have to deal with this all the time. Customers are complaining that their computer is running slow. We check it, and sure enough it's the svchost->wuauserv process that's eating up 100% of one core. I've seen one of the folders in SoftwareDistribution that grows larger and larger as the CPU usage carries on.

This happens with Vista too. I've had to reinstall 1 or 2 Vistas in the last 6 months and ran into this. It heavily depends on the CPU speed of course. One system I let along for 5 hours straight and it wasn't finished yet. I usually just let it sit over night and finish it up the next day too. This seems to happen more often if you have multiple windows updates pending, or if it's been awhile since you last checked for updates. If you have 30 to 50, forget about it. If you install a new OS with 200+ updates pending, you're looking at a day or two of CPU usage. Eventually this stops and it shows the updates to install. You install them and reboot, and it gets better and better the closer you get to 0 updates remaining.

Not sure if this was something intentional on Microsoft's part, or if they did do it on purpose to steer people into upgrading to Win 10 as they complain about a slow PC. For the most part I haven't seen this issue on Windows 10, since usually the 10 machines I deal with already have all the current updates since that's all automatic now. So maybe a big change they did to handle updates was geared towards 10. It's hard for me to say if this affects any Windows 8 machines, as I have been suggesting and installing Windows 10 upgrades from 8 anyway. We'll see how it goes when the free 10 upgrade is over and are forced to deal with Win 8 machines.

I've been joking that maybe Microsoft is mining for bitcoins in the background and using Windows Update as a cover.

[Spoetnik]

I've been joking that maybe Microsoft is mining for bitcoins in the background and using Windows Update as a cover.

naw Ethereum !

Didn't you hear the News ? Microsoft "uses" Ethereum 

I still see this pop up every time there is about to be updates on my Win 7 machine.
And in all my research + experience i think the WU activity is capped at 25%
So depending on your CPU power etc this can be a massive drag on your machine.
Like right now i have energy saving mode enabled using the default settings..
This means my old ass 2.6 ghz AMD Phenom x4 gets half speed most of the time.
it runs at 1.3 ghz unless it passes the threshhold to speed up..
And it takes a lot for it to ramp up the speed to max.
So the 25% activity does not make it change speeds so i get laggy.
I use my PC mainly for running Windows Media Center.
So it hits that 25% and start to lag out my videos etc.. not much but just enough to notice it.
Note i use the LAV codec installer + Icaros for thumbnails and have Media Foundation disabled.

I think there is nothing you can do.. but just get used to it and let it do what it wants.
If need be you can disabled the WU service and the activity will stop though.
But turn it back on and it resumes doing what ever the hell it's doing 

On fresh installs though there is far more problems.. rooted to there being more updates.
I seen a Microsoft.com staffer online peg the core problem as being that.
But ya intentional or not ? i have no idea but it's a plausible theory.
Why ?
Because they have known about this issue for a couple YEARS now !
And when looking online you see the web is flooded with complaints.. still.. to this day !
There is of course NOOBS that scratch their ass and then come and say "OMG WOW It's Fixed yo!"
Then they come back later and say ohh whooops sorry ....it's not ROFL
You know the type.. they post online help to people to do dumb shit swearing it fixes things.
My room-mate for example..
Told me he fixed his PC a while back by enabling all his CPU's
I think he meant cores and uhmmm yeah bud they are ALWAYS *ALL* enabled by default.
This guy would not know how to disable a core or get into a bios so he was full of shit.
But there is no telling him.. he is a self proclaimed expert.
I mentioned my problems i posted here and he said proudly he fixed his own and other peoples
by installing Windows 10 on them all hahhahahha

I was self employed years ago and ran a PC repair business that got very popular for many years.
Seen & heard it all and dealt with so many "experts" 
You know if they really are in about 1.2 seconds flat LOL

I have seen it all online for this problem too.. Noobs will suggest damn near anything to fix it.
Nothing a few chicken bones, some incense / candles and Pagan prayer ritual can't solve !
Dance around the PC 6.5 times chanting to lord Zeenu.. while wearing a shoe on your head.
Computer problems fixed !

[MrTom1]

I have seen it all online for this problem too.. Noobs will suggest damn near anything to fix it.
Nothing a few chicken bones, some incense / candles and Pagan prayer ritual can't solve !
Dance around the PC 6.5 times chanting to lord Zeenu.. while wearing a shoe on your head.
Computer problems fixed !

And don't forget ENABLE ALL CORES! That one always fixes all kinds of things.

But I think you're seeing 25% usage because you have 4 cores, so it's pegging one core leaving you with 75% free. The type of systems I'm dealing with are usually dual cores, so I see 50% usage most of the time. Either way it's using 100% of something..

I've tried the KB3145739 fix, KB3083710, and KB3102810 fixes, none fix it. Even tried the KB3145739 fix for Vista, but of course no difference. I've tried deleting SoftwareDistribution all together, but that just made it take even longer to rebuild the whole thing.

Well, I only have about 4 or so years of this crap left until Windows 7 dies and then I'll recommend not reinstalling it anymore. But then there's another 3 more years remaining of Windows H8 crap. Can't win.

You want some real fun, try updating Windows 7 on a Celeron! Argh! Talk about watching the photons grow. Celerons aren't made to do much of anything, let alone mining for Ethereum.

My work computer hasn't disappointed me yet, and windows update is on. It's got a Core i5 3.5GHz w/Win 7. It's always up to date, so I never get much lag when it has to install 5 to 15 updates. Now my home computer has updates turned off. So when I do the chunk of updates I'm sure I'll use some extra electrons from the wall. The price to pay for an uninterrupted and windows update bug free system.

[plpbtc1526]

My Dell updated to Windows 10 about a month ago after I prevented it from doing so for a lot longer than that.  Now I have pop-up adds everywhere and slow downloads of a lot of webpages.  Long story short, I'm ridding myself of this problem by getting something with a Chrome operating system in the near future.  Me and Windows are parting ways forever!

You should install an adblock applications so you can get rid of that annoying poo-ups. And also check your task manager find anything suspicious program that using internet connection. For downloading problem, you should download a download manager. I suggest to you the IDM.

[High Plains Drifter]

Now all the websites I go to are too big for the screen.  I have to scroll over to read everything.  I ran PC Matic yesterday and I'm sure that fixed a number of issues, but all the graphics are still supersized and won't fit on my 15.6 screen.  This sucks

[Dahhi]

I run Windows 8. Some time ago I heard about 2 files in C:\Windows\WinSxS that would send info to Microsoft without my authorization. I changed the names of these files. Shortly after that, when Update time came, there was one particular file that would not download. Since then, all kinds of files that are based off this one file won't download anymore. Windows 10 has not been a problem for me.

I don't remember what I did, but it worked. Part of what I had to do was to boot up from a Flash Drive Linux OS, and change the Windows file names through Linux. Windows wouldn't let me make the changes directly while running Windows.

I run an old Linux machine as well. It works a lot faster. So, I probably will go over to Linux as my main OS. Does anybody have any idea which Linux OS is best, and why?

I heard the Ubuntu OS is really good. It's fast and has a lower risk of getting a malware infection.

[MrTom1]

So i am curious if Windows 8 / 10 users are plagued with this high CPU usage problem too.

This has been going on for a loooong long time i see on Windows 7.
I have seen it on my own machine and on fresh installs.
Then when searching online i see a LOT of people complaining.

Finally, there's a fix!!

Actually it's been out for a couple months I guess. You need to update your Windows Update Agent, mine was from 2014. I'm dealing with a computer that needs 250+ updates. I takes 12 hours to compute all the updates.

After installing KB3020369 (which is needed and I didn't have it) and KB3172605 (Windows Update July 2016) the update check only took 1 minute.

So hopefully after July people got the update automatically and the problem shouldn't happen anymore.