Script fix via Manuel F. Gil

Adobe Flash appears to have helped a machine that was last updated in June 2016 (that wouldn't gather updates after 3 days of searching for them)

kb3102810 1st without Windows Update running (perhaps fresh reboot and run as 1st task)

This corrected Bruce's that I fought with for around 30 hours...

Installing and searching for updates is slow and high CPU usage occurs in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3102810 

kb3172605 2nd with reboot (without Windows Update running

July 2016 Windows7 roll-up patch is looking to also correct the update issue...

https://support.microsoft.com/en-ca/kb/3172605

Windows update never stops checking for updates Solved - Page 3 - Windows 7 Help Forums

"SOME SETTINGS ARE MANAGED BY YOUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium, and I've been encountering difficulties in Windows Updates Settings. I want to change my settings on Windows Updates so I can install important software from the Internet. But the problem is it prompts this message "SOME SETTINGS ARE MANAGED BY YOUR SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/unable-to-change-windows-update-settings-some/2aafdc92-fb2e-4347-948d-ca71f87107a4?auth=1

I can confirm this worked for me as well.

So I deleted everything here HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU except the value name (Default).

You might want to take a look in your

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\WindowsUpdate

and

HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

and see if there's anything there. You'll need to delete both, or you'll still get an error. Just leave the default in both. Hope this helps.