Have an Inspiron 1525 running Vista Home Premium. A month ago I received a Norton Security Suite Product Upgrade. Immediately after said upgrade my Windows Update would 'freeze' trying to look for new updates. High idle cpu usage was observed with the culprit process being svchost.exe (netsvcs) - wuauserv. Shutting off the new application search for windows update halted the high idle cpu but 'frozen' new update searches remain. Tried the MS windows update 'fix-it' tool without result and did a comprehensive scan with both the Security Suite and Power Eraser with no threats detected.
Was wondering if the upgraded Norton firewall might be causing this blockage? Any and all insights regarding this problem would be welcomed.