Question for the PC buffs - is my computer dying?

System:

 
I have two major problems which make me think all is not well.
 
===================================================
1) Windows will not update successfully
 
I have Windows set to notify me when updates are available - here is how the update status as it appears now:
 

 
As you can see, there are a lot of available updates.
 
If I hit the Install updates button, everything seems to go according to plan and I receive the prompt to restart my system.
 
Everything seems to go according to plan:
 


 
However, I always end up getting an error message similar to this:
 

 
And when I then check the update status, I get a message saying that the updates have failed.
 
I've tried updating them all at once and one at a time. Sometimes the updates seem to 'stick', but on subsequent reboots they all eventually are lost. This has been happening for over six months I would image.
 
===================================================
 
2) Small, but regular 'glitches' - e.g: audio skips, mouse pointer freezes and stutters, programs seem to hang for a few seconds etc.
 
At first, I thought this was a problem with my old Line 6 TonePort UX2 (I use this as my only soundcard) as I noticed the skipping/pausing audio at first. However, I've updated all the drivers and even tried another TonePort and the problem persists.
 
However, since first becoming aware of the audio problem, I've noticed that these glitches in audio often coincide with other programs temporarily stopping whatever they are doing. I also noticed that if I'm moving the mouse pointer around the screen, it will 'stutter' as I'm moving it.
 
===================================================
 
Any help and advice most gratefully received

Steve, make sure you do a complete backup (if you haven't already) before farting around with it

Check your temperatures as well - if they're on the high side, consider giving it a good clean out, and reseat everything like ston suggests

The update problem is almost certainly a software problem, not an indication that the machine is near failure. As stated above, make sure you have enough free space to download all the stuff that you have missed. Try the Fixit Wizard to see if that works. Otherwise you may need to do a repair install. 
 
http://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/949358
 

I have had instances where for some unknown reason, Windows Update gets a hiccup and cannot apply updates beyond a certain point.
 
There is some kind of Windows Update 'Fix It' program that Microsoft makes available, and that always took care of that kind of situation for me - and it's been at least 3 times that I can recall (I work on or build around 50-60 computers a year so it's a bit blurry, but I do remember that situation).
 
I think I went through some sort of Windows Update Troubleshooting dialog, and then it offered the Fix It download, which fixed it.
 
Worth a try anyways, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Hi,
 
What I did was a bit different. If you click to take a look at the number of updates necessary, you will find that a couple of them are simply     HUGE .... and then I decided to download a handful at a time, and it worked ... took an extra hour, but it got there.
 
I did the huge ones, SEPARATLY, and only one at a time. You will have to change for the time being the update notice, and set it to just tell you they are available, so you can go see it and select.
 
On my music machine, on W7 Pro 64bit ... it got hung up as well. Same procedure ... a handful at a time!