for the past several weeks, WUAUCLT.EXE has been running everytime I start or bring my computer to life from hibernation. When this happens, my system is UNUSEABLE for 45 minutes to 2 hours. The wuauclt.exe file, with svchost.exe, take up to 800Mb of resources. This was never a problem before late July. I am running XP, sp3 on a 3gig pentium4 with 1gig of ram. Please help if you can. Thank you.Note: I do not get error messags, it just kills the system.1 person needs an answerI do too

Could be a bug in the system.That program belongs to Microsoft update but it can get infected.Alot of viruses try to stop your system from getting updates so as to disguise itself from detection.I will give you 2 links.The first is a process explorer that you can use to see what is going on in the backround while the pc is idle and the second is a very good detective for viruses.It is best if you run this program in safe mode with networking to stop any virus from intervening in the process but it will work without.http://download.cnet.com/Process-Explorer/3000-2094_4-10223605.html http://www.malwarebytes.org/

If you are talking about MBAM, they specifically say it loses effectiveness in Safe Mode and recommend a normal boot.MBAM does not recommend running in Safe Mode (according to their President and CEO):"MBAM loses some effectiveness for detection & removal when used in safe mode because the program includes a special driver which does not work in safe mode. Further, scanning in safe mode prevents some types of malware from running so it may be missed during the detection process. Additionally, there are various types of malware infections which target the safeboot keyset so booting into safe mode is not always possible. For optimal removal, normal mode is recommended so it does not limit the abilities of MBAM."Marcin Kleczynski Malwarebytes President and CEO Where do these rumors begin.Do you really think suggestions that begin with the words try , might or maybe are going to be helpful?I need YOUR votes and points for helpful replies and Propose as Answers. I am saving up for a pony!

Safe mode with networking allows internet interaction.Where do these rumours come from?