Accessing Windows update causes IE to freeze

Whenever I try to access WU (either through IE or from Start, Help & Support,
Keep your computer up to date..... ) it always causes IE to freeze, forcing
me to Cntrl Alt Delete.

Sometimes I cannot acces WU site at all before IE freezes, or sometimes it
gets onto the site and gets as far as asking me to select Express or Custom
and then freezes up. Don't understand why it is inconsistent.

If I select Automatic Updates, then when you hover over the icon in the
System tray it will have stuck at, say, 0% or 3% and then never progresses
from that point, so I have Manual selected.

Have tried numerous programs to scan for viruses, trojans, etc but have
never found any problems.

I am running WXP SP2 Home Edition on a Dell Dimension 5000.

Windows Update did work fine for many months after I first bought the PC,
but now cannot recall when I was last able to update successfully.

Can anyone out there please shed any light at all on my problem?

My only other solution is to re-install Windows, but that seems a bit drastic!

I have the very same problem on a Gateway Windows 2000 system.
It is pentium III, so I don't dare try to install XP on it.

Thanks for any help.

"Mark" wrote:

> Whenever I try to access WU (either through IE or from Start, Help & Support,
> Keep your computer up to date..... ) it always causes IE to freeze, forcing
> me to Cntrl Alt Delete.
>
> Sometimes I cannot acces WU site at all before IE freezes, or sometimes it
> gets onto the site and gets as far as asking me to select Express or Custom
> and then freezes up. Don't understand why it is inconsistent.
>
> If I select Automatic Updates, then when you hover over the icon in the
> System tray it will have stuck at, say, 0% or 3% and then never progresses
> from that point, so I have Manual selected.
>
> Have tried numerous programs to scan for viruses, trojans, etc but have
> never found any problems.
>
> I am running WXP SP2 Home Edition on a Dell Dimension 5000.
>
> Windows Update did work fine for many months after I first bought the PC,
> but now cannot recall when I was last able to update successfully.
>
> Can anyone out there please shed any light at all on my problem?
>
> My only other solution is to re-install Windows, but that seems a bit drastic!

I am having the exact same problem. Always worked in the past but had
trouble all of a sudden yesterday. svchost seems to jump up to 100%. I get
stuck at "Checking for the latest updates for your computer"

"Mark" wrote:

> Whenever I try to access WU (either through IE or from Start, Help & Support,
> Keep your computer up to date..... ) it always causes IE to freeze, forcing
> me to Cntrl Alt Delete.
>
> Sometimes I cannot acces WU site at all before IE freezes, or sometimes it
> gets onto the site and gets as far as asking me to select Express or Custom
> and then freezes up. Don't understand why it is inconsistent.
>
> If I select Automatic Updates, then when you hover over the icon in the
> System tray it will have stuck at, say, 0% or 3% and then never progresses
> from that point, so I have Manual selected.
>
> Have tried numerous programs to scan for viruses, trojans, etc but have
> never found any problems.
>
> I am running WXP SP2 Home Edition on a Dell Dimension 5000.
>
> Windows Update did work fine for many months after I first bought the PC,
> but now cannot recall when I was last able to update successfully.
>
> Can anyone out there please shed any light at all on my problem?
>
> My only other solution is to re-install Windows, but that seems a bit drastic!