what happened to the little green bars?

This is probably a dumb question or something I shouldn't be conserned about
but would still like to ask. Whenever I go to Windows update and I get it to
check my system for updates I no longer get those little green bars that go
across to indicate that the system is looking for updates, the funny thing is
it looks like It still must be working inside cause I do get whatever updates
are needed, just no more little green bars indicating that it is actually
looking. Is this a problem or something I should be ignoring cause I do see
the little green bars on a friends machine still?
Thank you in advance for your time
Gio

Well if you must know...
I get this problem when I don't let the whole page download before I press
the scanner button.
I also don't get the green streamer when I turn on my internet image filter.