BleepingComputer.com: Windows Automatic Updates Will Not Turn On.

My Automatic Updates for Windows XP will not turn on. When I click the red shield next to the clock on the bottom right hand of the screen, Windows Security Center pops up. Under the Automatic Updates tab, it is labeled OFF in red font. I click the button to turn them back on and this messages appears "We're sorry. The Security Center could not change your Automatic Update settings. To try changing these settings yourself, go to System in Control Panel. On the Automatic Updates tab, select Automatic (recommended), and then click OK." I do exactly this, go back to the Security Center, try to turn them on again, and the same message appears. I've run Ad-Aware, Malwarebytes, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Super Anti-Spyware. All the results almost always come back clean. Occasionally, Spybot will find something and it fixes it, but the problem still persists. I've experienced no problems with my computer in terms of speed or anything like that. Everything still works fine, but I know that it's important to have Automatic Updates turned on. It's also annoying when the little balloon keeps popping up at the bottom of the screen, telling me that my Automatic Updates is off. I've tried to fix this problem before on another forum, but nothing worked. I did the whole Start, Run, services.msc process and that didn't do anything. I also tried the Dial-a-Fix program? That also didn't help. Does anyone have anything to offer that could solve this problem? Thanks!

TheVegas, on May 9 2010, 03:49 PM, said:

Do you have the logs from those scans? I'm interested to see what was found....

I'm inclined to believe you are infected with something that runs a little deeper than what those tools can find/remove....

FWIW: None of those programs you mention...are AV programs. In my world, that would mean a high risk of infection.

As for auto updates...try turning it off...running chkdsk /r and then turning it on.

If that fails, then consider running the sfc /scannow command, to replace missing/damaged system files.

You might also examine errors noted in Event Viewer, How To Use Event Viewer - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic40108.html.

Louis