Failed Windows Updates Causing Slowdowns? - Comments Page 2

I deleted everything from
C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download
then I checked for updates. Windows 7 said everything was up to date but 3 more files appeared in that folder again. Is this okay or maybe I should reboot and check again?

Hi Bob, I managed to find that download folder, but there are 106 items in it, some look different than others, how do I know which ones are failed, or if they are in there does that mean they are all failed? My computer is having all the issues you mentioned, so is it safe just to delete them all?

EDITOR'S NOTE: Yes.

Couple of Win 10 things seem to be confusing people. 1. File explorer is right there on the Start menu. 2. There is no alternative to auto-updates in Win 10; they get installed. All users can do is schedule when the machine will reboot to finish installation. No choice about which updates to install.

My only failed many updates are for Windows Defender. I tried several ways to fix it, but it seems that the WD program has disappeared from my Win 7 setup, and there is no way that I have found to reinstall it. I tried the MS help board, but they said it was impossible to delete or restore the program.
I did delete a bunch of files and folders from the Download folder and will see if that speeds up the restart process.

I was pretty displeased with the performance after I upgraded from 8.1. Start ups were slow, browsing wasn't really wonderful. With 8GB RAM I was expecting things to go a little faster.

I was seriously thinking about going back to 8.1 until I just read this article. Gave it a shot and I gotta tell ya...if I blink I might miss something. Incredible and thank you for sharing that information with us.

That is awesome. I will check all my systems.

Hi Bob: I don't think that a corrupted download file would be why an update fails. I would think that the file would contain a checksum. Windows Update would check this value. If it was incorrect, the update shouldn't proceed. At least I'm hoping that's how it should work.

Hi Bob: I don't think that a corrupted download file would be why an update fails. I would think that the file would contain a checksum. Windows Update would check this value. If it was incorrect, the update shouldn't proceed. At least I'm hoping that's how it should work.

Was ready to toss my slow laptop and replace it. Tried this fix and rebooted. Started right up and no more locking up! Thanks!

Thanks again Bob.
Been having problems since "Windows 10" started, mainly with the drivers. Followed your instructions, wow, 190 folders & et all.

I found under Win 7, that when I saw updates had failed, I made I.E. my default, I use Mozilla Firefox, then re-ran the updates, miraculously the 'failed' files were installed with no problems. Hmmm.

On another note, I know I have a month to roll back to Windows 7 Pro, but at what point do I delete the "Windows.old" folder, which in my case is about 18.2Gb & about 84,000 folders, and do I do this before doing a 'de-frag' of the drive?

Again, thanks for your valuable knowledge.

Worked for me on 8.1 system that had previously repeatedly failed 3 updates. Thanks!

Crap Cleaner didn't even know about this one. Or they choose not to have it as an easy choice for illiterati. I was a bit scary deleting all that geeky looking stuff, but, hey, I got faith in you. If this had failed and my computer wouldn't boot, I was going to stick at least 1123581321345589144233377610987 pins in a voodoo do doll and think evil thots of how your advice was poor. But, as always, it was great. Like the corn flakes. Thank you, Bob. I think my computer actually did boot faster. I hit the log on screen in less than 30 seconds.

Thank you for this article. I checked for any failed updates, and to my surprise, there were quite a few. I deleted them and ran Windows Update. The updates all worked this time. I will use this procedure to check for any failed updates whether my system seems slow or not since it is very important to make sure your system is as safe as it can be. Again, much thanks!

Icarried out the instructions and it worked fine bue when I checked Windows Updates again there was 21 Windows 10 failures.
Does this mean my computer will not accept Windows 10.

Best regards.

THANKS SO MUCH. Many parts of Windows 10 had stopped working such as tool bars, Microsoft Edge, search, the windows 8 style app pages. I removed the files you noted and ran the update again. After a restart, everything started working. Miraculous. I was in a terrible mess before because so many things wouldn't open.

Incredible amount of junk!! I deleted nearly 7 000 items!

Bob, in your instructions above under "A Simple Solution" it says: "Navigate to Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download. The failed update files are in the “Download” folder". I did that and found ALL my latest updates are in that folder.

In my Windows Update History the Status column says every one of those was Successful. So how can they be classed as "Failed" updates in the Download folder? I don't understand. Thanks.

Hi Bob
Many thanks for that useful advice. I was wondering what to do about the general slowdown on my aging desktop, but after deleting a whole bunch of downloaded updates it is back to normal speed. Now I'll look at Win 10 to see if that will make it even faster!

Bob, if you were in my immediate neighborhood I'd give you a bear hug! I deleted the contents of the folder which had over 3 gigs of files. Boot time for my 6 year old Compaq laptop went from over 4 minutes to about 30 seconds. Now I understand all the raves about Windows 10's speed. Machine was up and running before I could push the chair back to go get some coffee! Muchos gracias, hombre!!!

I clicked post too soon on my last comment.

Other improvements in my Windows 10 in addition to much faster start up include applications loading in 10 seconds instead of 30 to 50 and a 4 times improvement in WiFi download speed from the average 2.5mps to 10.5. My upload speed improved from 1.1-2 to 2.5mps.

I am spreading the word on this one as far and wide as I can. Thanks again, Bob! Best wishes -- GC