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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
April 29,
2007
Q.
When I start up my computer, it becomes
unresponsive for several minutes during
which time, almost nothing is usable. What
is causing this and how can I fix it?
A.
It appears that your computer, like so many
others, is experiencing what is referred to
as Infamous SVCHOST Issue. This issue
becomes apparent when a system first boots
up, is awakened from Standby, Sleep, or
Hibernation, and/or tries to access the
Windows or Microsoft Update sites.
When systems with Automatic Updates turned
on do any of the above, SVCHOST will
start to consume most of the CPU cycles
while spawning the wuauclt.exe (Windows
Automatic Update Client) process. SVCHOST
may even take all of the CPU cycles,
effectively locking the system up,
temporarily, until the detection scan has
finished. This can take several minutes.
There are
several things you can do to try to remedy
this situation. Notice that I said try. None
are guaranteed too work. These should be
done in the order listed. Hopefully,
Microsoft will finally address and fix the
problem in Service Pack 3, should it ever be
done. This problem is NOT present in Vista.
1.
Download a patch from Microsoft called
KB927891. You can download it from Microsoft
be clicking
HERE.
Validation is required. If that doesn't work
go to step 2.
2. On
some systems, if Microsoft Updates is rolled
back to Windows Updates, the default when XP
is installed, the problem is resolved.
Windows Update checks for updates to Windows
ONLY. Microsoft Update checks for updates to
ALL Microsoft programs installed on your
computer.
Just remember, if you do this, you will have
to manually go to Office Update to get
patches and updates.
Here's
how to change to Windows Update.
Click
Start, Programs, then Microsoft or Windows
update. This takes you to the
Microsoft Update site. Click Change
Settings, scroll down the page, click to
select the "Disable Microsoft Update software
and let me use Windows Update only" check
box, and then click Apply changes now. You
will receive the following message: Windows
Automatic Updates will not be able to
deliver updates from Microsoft Update
Service. Are you sure you want to continue?
Click Yes.
This
should fix your problems. However, if it
doesn't, here are three more steps that you
can try. To perform these, a good working
knowledge of Windows and the computer are
required.
1. Assure
that your computer is set to show all files,
then navigate to the WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download
folder. Delete the contents of this folder.
Exit Windows Explorer. Initiate a manual
visit to the Windows|Microsoft Update site.
If that doesn't resolve the issue, go on to
step 2.
2. Go to
Start/Run and type in net stop wuauserv and
click. Navigate to the WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore
folder and delete DataStore.edb NOTE: This
will remove the update history that one sees
on the Windows | Microsoft Update sites. Go
to Start/Run/ and type in net start wuauserv
and click OK. If this doesn't resolve the
issue go to step 3.
3. Turn
off Automatic Updates, then rename the
Software Distribution folder to
SoftwareDistribution.old, but do not delete
it. Now turn automatic updates back on and
the contents of SoftwareDistribution folder
will be recreated the first time the system
accesses the Windows/Microsoft Update.
If none
of the above solves your problem, then I'm
afraid you can only hope for XP Service Pack
3, learn to live with the problem, or update
to Vista.
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