On the last forum it was suggested there may be underlying issues and after googling my problem I came across this forum which I am now going to use from now on. Now Security Essentials is doing the same as before, getting halfway through updating and stopping, and when I go to close it its says its not responsing, as does windows updater. However when following those steps I noticed my Windows Update will not update, and hasnt done since May! If I click on update the green bar moves but never gets anywhere, ive left it for 15min+ and it just keeps saying its checking for update. I posted this problem on another forum here: and after following the instructions it started working. I then downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials to use as my virus scanner. I uninstalled Norton and the problem with turning off has resolved. A Norton pop up kept appearing, the scan wouldnt run and my laptop kept turning itself off. Hello, I previously has Norton on my computer with an expired subscription.