Windows 8 Disk Clean-up: Windows Update Clean-up

[avastuser1243]

On the disk clean-up utility in Windows I selected 'Windows Update Clean-up' and now the clean-up is running and has been stuck on the 'Windows Update Clean-up' portion of the operation for hours. I can hear the fan going non stop but can't hear the drive at all and my CPU usage is at 60%. This has happened to me several times in the past on Windows 8 (which I'm currently using) but not on 8.1. I've found that if I cancel the operation or close it from the task manager, Windows won't let me shut down my PC and gets stuck on the "shutting down" screen. The only way I know to get out of this situation is to end the background process 'Windows Modules Installer Worker' from the task manager which has 30% CPU usage when the system is seemingly idle after closing disk clean-up. However, I have no idea of the potential risks of doing this as my technical knowledge of this kind of stuff is almost non existant. Is it OK for me to do this or is there another, safer way out of this situation?

Thanks

[CraigB]

Windows disc clean is horribly slow at cleaning the updates of win8, 8.1 is also slow but not as bad so you should just leave it running overnight if you have to.

You can always run a full clean up with CCleaner first to minimise some of the rubbish but disc clean will still be slow once it gets to that Windows Update section.

[schmidthouse]

Windows disc clean is horribly slow at cleaning the updates of win8, 8.1 is also slow but not as bad so you should just leave it running overnight if you have to.

You can always run a full clean up with CCleaner first to minimise some of the rubbish but disc clean will still be slow once it gets to that Windows Update section.

Agreed +1
I also have found when cleaning Windows Updates section and just left it, Finally completed.

[avastuser1243]

Windows disc clean is horribly slow at cleaning the updates of win8, 8.1 is also slow but not as bad so you should just leave it running overnight if you have to.

You can always run a full clean up with CCleaner first to minimise some of the rubbish but disc clean will still be slow once it gets to that Windows Update section.

Agreed +1
I also have found when cleaning Windows Updates section and just left it, Finally completed.

Thanks for the replies.

I've found on my system (intel core i5 2.3 GHz and 8GB ram) that Windows 8.1 disk clean up can do like 5GB in half an hour. Now, Windows 8 clean up has been stuck at the exact same point for about 3 hours with only 1GB to clean. This suggests to me that something's definately wrong.

[bob3160]

Not necessarily. It's just extremely slow.
This is the kind of project you start before you go to bed and hope
it's finished by the time you get back up the next morning.

[schmidthouse]

Not necessarily. It's just extremely slow.
This is the kind of project you start before you go to bed and hope
it's finished by the time you get back up the next morning.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it also may depend on whether you run the clean up often or leave it for a lengthy period or time.

[CraigB]

Another way to solve the problems of Win8 is to update to 8.1

[avastuser1243]

Well this is embarrasing.  The clean up process just finished! I'm obviously too impatient and it must have had more stuff to clean in the past.

Another way to solve the problems of Win8 is to update to 8.1

I can't, keeps coming up with an error right at the end of the installation. More info on the last couple of pages of this thread: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=147918.0

[CraigB]

Another way to solve the problems of Win8 is to update to 8.1

I can't, keeps coming up with an error right at the end of the installation. More info on the last couple of pages of this thread: http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=147918.0

That's a bit of a dilemma, stick with essexboys advice and try again after next months updates.