I can always tell when Windows update is downloading updates. The entire laptop (8 GB ram and fast FIOS insternet) slows down to a crawl for most of that day. It becomes painfully slow to use.
Is there anything I can do about that?
You could always download Windows updates as a scheduled task, or use the excellent Windows Update MiniTool (WUMT) to automate this on your behalf. Run it at night and it won't bother you by day, especially if you reboot after updates are downloaded. SuperUser has a nice piece on scheduled update downloads, and you can download WUMT from MajorGeeks.
HTH,
--Ed--
Multiple updates will slow it down too, some updates will download faster than others then wait to install.
You can set when your computer is active where it wont do nothing till it gets to where in set to be inactive. yours should be set at default to be active at 8am to 5pm.
If you are shutting it down, after you stop using it, the next day it will check for updates, run its security and maintenance, and sending feed back to Microsoft, which will cause it to be slow.
Mine is set at default, although I shut it down at 9pm then at 5am start it back up.
Thank you for your excellent suggestions. I downloaded WUMT and opened it but am not sure how to run it. I selected the option "scheduled" at 3 am but there is no button to "save". If I just close WUMT does it run as scheduled? Do I need to put something in the startup file or do something else?
Thanks.
After running the scan utility in WUMT (left-hand icon that looks like two arrows that form a circle), you need to click the select checkboxes for the updates you want, or click the Select All checkbox at the top of the window. Then you can click the download arrow with a line underneath it (which downloads and installs those updates for you). That should do the trick!
HTH,
--Ed--
PS: there's a YouTube video entitled "How to Use Windows Update MiniTool" that you may want to watch to understand how to use it better. It's from the guys at MajorGeeks, so it's both reliable and mildly humorous.
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