Windows Update is causing cpu to run at 100%

My computer was running very slowly. I went to Task Manager and looked at the processes running. Nothing showed a very high percentage. I looked at "All Processes" and found that the svchost.exe file was using 100% of the cpu.

I checked my computer for viruses, Avast found nothing. I checked for malware with Malwarebytes, it found nothing. I ran rkill.exe and it found nothing, came back clean.

I turned off the auto windows update feature. So that you now have to manually check for updates, and this immediately dropped the cpu down to 0% again.

So, I'm running with Windows Update turned off. I tried to manually check for available updates, but the problem started right back up. The svchost program, in the c/:windows/system32 folder, was again running at 100%, effectively locking the machine up. I've left it running for an hour thinking that it would eventually check for updates and give me a list. Nope, just churns away.

So now my computer is running normally, but I can't check for, or download, or install any new Windows 7 Updates. Computer was last updated back in April 2015. Not updated since then. Problem started a while ago, but I didn't notice right away since it's my wifes computer not mine.

Only have a Restore Point that goes back to mid-July. I guess I could try going back to that restore point and seeing if that would fix the problem, but I'm going to have to reinstall a bunch of programs again if I do that. Adobe Flash updates, Adobe Reader updates, Google Chrome and Firefox updates, going to be a mess.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for your help, it solved the problem.
I tried it the first time without clearing my update history. That didn't seem to solve the problem. So I tried doing it again. I deleted the Windows Update History first, then reset Windows Update. I also ran the Windows Update Agent file to make sure that I was running the latest version of Windows Update. This time, your advice fixed the problem. The computer is running at a nomal cpu level. Windows Update is set to check and let me know what updates were available, but let me decide when to download and install the updates. I have been able to get this machine back up and running with the latest updates installed.

Thanks for your help. It was greatly appreciated.
The wife's computer is running smoothly again and she's not mad at me... That's a bonus!