A Computer Problem

[Splinters N Chips]

When you do a control alt delete you bring up a list of all the processes running check to see if WUAUCLT.exe is one of them.

If it is click on it and halt it. Does you disk stop?

Do a find for the WUAUCLT.exe you should have only one copy and it should be in the system32 file. If you have more than one delete them.

I believe WUAUCLT is a Windows update module and for some reason it goes nuts. Do some searches and note all the hits.

Some people say delete it and do your updates manually. Frankly I think one or two of the Spam programs mess with it and it goes goofy. I got one of those fake trojans that try to get you to install a fake virus prog and ever since my WUAUCLT goes nuts. I just this week found I had two copies one in place it shouldn't have been deleted it and things are better. I tempted to delete WUAUCLT and get a new copy. Haven't done that yet.

I don't know how to use this forum yet, hope this goes through. My computer has three WUAUCLT on it. Only one has the exe extension though. Could I have a problem? Thanks for the info. Lee

[Ed in Tampa]

I don't know how to use this forum yet, hope this goes through. My computer has three WUAUCLT on it. Only one has the exe extension though. Could I have a problem? Thanks for the info. Lee

According to all I read you it is almost certain you have or had some malware. I would delete all that aren't in System32.

Apparently this program besides everything else is a fast dirt way for hacker to have access to your ISP, Computer without you seeing it run. From what I'm reading (and I may be very wrong on this) the only thing most people see is sluggish performance and possibly the harddrive light flashing. I guess if your harddrive is getting older you may hear it thrashing.

Apparently there is a problem in Wuauclt.exe and Microsoft is aware and hopefully working on a solution.

Easiest way to see if this is your problem is when you system is slow to respond press ctl, alt delete together.
This will bring up the Task manager screen now click the processes tab, scan the list for
Wuauclt if it is there then most certainly you have this problem.
If you system is really thrashing hitting the ctl,alt and delete key will take a while to display the task manager screen be patient. If you want to prove this is your problem highlight the Wuauclt on the processes tab and click delete you will get a warning message but the process will stop and your system will start acting normal.

There is a work around but I found it easier to just turn my computer on early and let Wuauclt do it's thing now that I'm certain there is no malware and wait for Microsoft to come up with a good fix.

[JPG]

According to all I read you it is almost certain you have or had some malware. I would delete all that aren't in System32.

Apparently this program besides everything else is a fast dirt way for hacker to have access to your ISP, Computer without you seeing it run. From what I'm reading (and I may be very wrong on this) the only thing most people see is sluggish performance and possibly the harddrive light flashing. I guess if your harddrive is getting older you may hear it thrashing.

Apparently there is a problem in Wuauclt.exe and Microsoft is aware and hopefully working on a solution.

Easiest way to see if this is your problem is when you system is slow to respond press ctl, alt delete together.
This will bring up the Task manager screen now click the processes tab, scan the list for
Wuauclt if it is there then most certainly you have this problem.
If you system is really thrashing hitting the ctl,alt and delete key will take a while to display the task manager screen be patient. If you want to prove this is your problem highlight the Wuauclt on the processes tab and click delete you will get a warning message but the process will stop and your system will start acting normal.

There is a work around but I found it easier to just turn my computer on early and let Wuauclt do it's thing now that I'm certain there is no malware and wait for Microsoft to come up with a good fix.

I have experienced the 'sluggish response' symptom occasionally, but have never caught WUAUCLT with Task Manager.

Should I be concerned with the following 'search' result????

[ATTACH]10303[/ATTACH]

Running XP Pro SP 3

[Ed in Tampa]

First off from the reading I have done on the subject WUAUCLT.exe should only be in the SYSTEM32 file. My understanding is that this module/program has been used in the past by Malware, Spam and Trojans because when it runs it usually is transparent to the user.

WUAUCLT is a valid module/program used by Microsoft to check for system updates. Somewhere around the beginning of Aug something happened and people started complaining about their system trashing. Some are seeing it and others aren't. Finally toward the end of Aug Microsoft stepped up and said yes there is a problem. Some suggest it is with Microsoft Security Essentials, others say a windows update others simply are having the problem.

In any case from what I read you really don't need WUAUCLT at all. If you don't have it you will have to do your own check for updates for you various programs.

Therefore here is what I did. I first notices the problem after a Trojan. I caught the trojan and knocked it off my system but then every so often I caught my machine thrashing. I finally narrowed it down to WUAUCLT. At first is simply stopped the WUAUCLT everytime I caugth it running. Then I did a few searches and found out about the bug.

I also found out that the module should only be in System32 folder so I did a find in my find I found the module in more at than one place and once place was the same as your in the prefetch folder. Mine in the prefetch had the same modification date as the day I got my trojan. If you look at yours everyone is an rather old date except the first in the prefetch which has 2010 date in it.

If I was you I would delete all WUAUCLT.exe except the one in the
Windows/system32.
They will go to you trash can so you can try running the system for a few days with them there and if everything seems okay you can then empty the trash.

You may still have the thrashing. You can either live with them until Microsoft offer a fix (the choice I took) or you can turn off System Updating which is different than windows updating. To turn off system updating you must go to the update site (you get there by clicking update from your start list) then clicking change options and go down to the bottom of the list and there is a check box to turn on/off system updates. If on turn off. If off this ain't your problem.

If you turn it off you can still have window updates turned on and the system will do window updates but with system updates off things like Office, Security Essentials, works and etc won't get automatically updated. Each has a switch to do a manual update within them so you can still keep your system current.

Again I posted a link in one of my above posts that will take you to a full discussion of the situation.
Best to you

[dusty]

At the moment and in the current configuration, my old Dell Latitude C810 laptop is behaving well. I no longer have any indication that the hard drive is being accessed or that there is a virtual memory shortfall.

Fixed? I don't think so.

I have stripped all of the accessory software off the machine except Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Office 2000 and Adobe Reader.

Don't know what to conclude now that I have done all of this.

[Ed in Tampa]

Dusty
My guess is if you turn it off and back on you will see the disk being accessed for a period of time (some people report less that 5 minutes while others say nearly an hour.) If so press ctl alt and delete keys together and get the task manage up. Look in processes and see if Wuauclt is in the list. If so click on it and down at the lower right click the box that says terminate process. You will get a warning message but go ahead and terminate it. If you system stop thrashing within the next minute or so you know you have this problem. Go to the link I included above read all the posts and follow the directions to turn off system updates. If you have Microsoft Security Essentials installed it turned on the system updates. And some where in August a system update apparently brought this problem on. Last I checked MS is working on a fix.

Incidentally since I last posted I have turned mine off and my system is acting like a new machine. I thought I was outsmarting the problem by turning mine on first things each morning and then going to eat breakfast. However my system would still thrash about once a day even after this. The minute I turned off system updates I haven't had the slightest problem.

[still_waters_43]

Windows Update should be downloading fixes that MS have developed to counter Virus developers attempts to infect our PCs. So, not running Windows Update puts you at risk

I would run Windows Update (you may see this by pressing "Start" or it might be in the Accessories folder?) This will tell you if any updates are waiting to run (when you power down). From this screen you can also select "Review Update History" this will give you the results from prior updates. If you see alot of "failed" updates then that means that all these updates are stacked up waiting to run sucessfully (if you have this situation you have an issue that needs to be fixed).

[Stitch]

Are there two different topics going on here or are Windows Updates and Microsoft Security Essentials the same thing? I just looked at my updates history and found that I have had 156 updates that installed successfully. Wow. That's a lot of updates for the short time this computer has been on the forum.

[Ed in Tampa]

Windows Update should be downloading fixes that MS have developed to counter Virus developers attempts to infect our PCs. So, not running Windows Update puts you at risk

I would run Windows Update (you may see this by pressing "Start" or it might be in the Accessories folder?) This will tell you if any updates are waiting to run (when you power down). From this screen you can also select "Review Update History" this will give you the results from prior updates. If you see alot of "failed" updates then that means that all these updates are stacked up waiting to run sucessfully (if you have this situation you have an issue that needs to be fixed).

Not exactly.
You need to read the discussion I provided the link for. Apparently with just windows update turned on and system updates turned off you will get all the updates for windows (security or otherwise) what you won't get is updates for things like MS Office.

As for Microsoft Sercurity Essentials there is an option to have it check for updates before it does a scheduled scan of your system. So in effect everytime it does a scan it would first check for and download any needed updates.

Therefore all you wouldn't get updates for is things like Office, Media player and such. But all of these have an option that will allow you to periodically check for and install any updates. If you look at your update history you will notice most if not all updates were for windoews.

[Ed in Tampa]

Are there two different topics going on here or are Windows Updates and Microsoft Security Essentials the same thing? I just looked at my updates history and found that I have had 156 updates that installed successfully. Wow. That's a lot of updates for the short time this computer has been on the forum.

Stitch
It was reported that someone's machine was thrashing. By coincidence my machine had just started thrashing. I had traced mine back to the fact that WUAUCLT was running. At first I thought a trojan had effected mine but on further study I found that Microsoft had released an update that apparently made some machines go into thrash mode when the WUAUCLT was running. WUAUCLT is the Microsoft updating module. It was determined that this problem only occurs when you have SYSTEM UPDATE specified instead of only WINDOWS UPDATE.

Windows update is turned automatically and can be found in control panel under the security icon. I was wondering how my System Update had gotten turned on and found out that Microsoft Security Essentials turns it on when and if it is installed, which it is on my system. I have followed the procedure listed in the link I supplies and have since turned off System Updates. Problem is gone. I still get my windows updates, and Security Essential is up to date also. So I'm happy!!!!!;)