Over the last 6 months more and more Windows Updates have been failing, the latest being shown below, with a variety of error codes. The most fashionable at the moment is Code 652 & Code 800F082F which appear to be meaningless to even MS, their solution so far is to remove then re-install the OS!! If they are optional I tend not to worry but the last two are listed as important; so first question is are they and if so what do I do?

Update for Windows Vista (KB955430)
Installation date: ‎05/‎05/‎2009 20:56
Installation status: Failed
Error details: Code 800F082F
Update type: Important

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update (KB951847) x86
Installation date: ‎05/‎05/‎2009 17:34
Installation status: Failed
Error details: Code 652
Update type: Important

Second question, could this ever increasing list of failed updates (currently 25) be slowing the boot up of my computer, which is getting slower and slower?
Third question, could this ever increasing list of failed updates be causing every other program that would like to update itself (Adobe, itunes, McAfee etc to fail to do so and Windows Installer to leave the message: Another program is being installed. Please wait until that installation is complete, and then try installing this software again?!!! For example: itunes continually fails to download the new version, if I try to do it manually I am faced with the above message and yet there is nothing obvious downloading!!!

Aaaaaaargh! I can't take it any more! Please help with this ridculous Catch-22!

Many thanks in advance

Thank you for your help. To make sure I fully understand; do I delete the entire contents of the 'Software Distribution' Folder or just the 'Download' Folder? Secondly where do I download the proper 'KB' file from?

Thanks

You can get rid of the everything in the Software Distribution folder. You can then go to Microsoft Support and search for the KB article (enter them like you have listed above). There may be more than one search result that comes back, but there should be a "Show Me" in the left margin that will list operating system version (Home Basic, Ultimate X64, etc) that you can choose. You will still need to scroll down to your particular flavor of Vista in most circumstances.