Windows Update bug

While evaluating various programs I noticed they we're using too much CPU. It took a few minutes before most programs finished loading. After they finished svchost.exe took over and was also using all available CPU. Using Process Explorer I noticed the problem was caused by windows update. I finally found a link to solve this problem. With a Dutch forum pointing to this article and 64 comments with thank you notes I thought I might share this information. I took me hours before I noticed that the problems hadn't been caused by myself or software I was evaluating but by windows update.

There are two articles. Windows Update bug brings computers to crawl with scan describes the problem with WSUS and Windows Update Broke My Machine (svchost.exe -- application error), and How to Fix It describes how to fix it.