Please Wait - Updating... NEED HELP

[Milton_Moore27]

Yesterday, I was attempting to speed up my girlfriend's laptop since she claimed it was sluggish overall. I ran Hitman Pro 3 to do a deep scan for viruses, revealing nothing except removal of PUPs and Internet Cookies. After the scan finished, and removed the unwanted material, the computer was restarted, and Windows initiated automatic updates as well (seven of them). The updates completed, and the machine restarted again. Upon reboot, it is stuck at a screen that only says "Please Wait..." I tell her to leave it overnight and see what it does. It has been approximately 20 hours since, and the computer screen still states "Please Wait." It is an ASUS laptop purchased from Walmart running Windows 8.1. What is there that I can do? Is it safe to do shut it down by the power button?

[TheGeekster]

If the hard drive activity light isn't flashing, there's not much more you can do tbh apart from shut it down, and hope nothing gets messed up.

[Milton_Moore27]

If the hard drive activity light isn't flashing, there's not much more you can do tbh apart from shut it down, and hope nothing gets messed up.

In the case that I do, will it still be possible that I can go in and do a factory reset?

[DIV1D3]

Just restart it again. 

You could open the laptop up and remove the CMOS battery, but I don't think that'd be necessary. 

[napster007]

Yes, Power it down. Boot it in safe mode(F8 or Del) and Uninstall the updates.

[TheGFactor]

Appears that your having a bit of a bug with the startup. 

I suspect is the anti-viral program still trying to remove some malicious files or your anti-viral program removed a bit of your startup files. As @TheGeekster stated, if the HDD light isnt on, cold restart it. It ifs stuck there, try using the disk that you should have gotten and kept from the laptop purchase and put that in and try to reinstall windows. 

Or you can try to enter the BIOS, but just see if that works first.

[TheGeekster]

In the case that I do, will it still be possible that I can go in and do a factory reset?

You should be able to, there should be a button to press at boot up to get into it if necessary, or as Tchy said, a disk when you started.

[Milton_Moore27]

Appears that your having a bit of a bug with the startup. 

I suspect is the anti-viral program still trying to remove some malicious files or your anti-viral program removed a bit of your startup files. As @TheGeekster stated, if the HDD light isnt on, cold restart it. It ifs stuck there, try using the disk that you should have gotten and kept from the laptop purchase and put that in and try to reinstall windows. 

Or you can try to enter the BIOS, but just see if that works first.

The funny thing is... I have noticed a lot of newer laptops DON'T come with recovery disks.... Her's didn't come with one if I remember correctly.

Suppose on cold reboot it still doesn't do it. Windows 8 and 8.1 makes it hard to access the BIOS. How will I be able to access the advanced startup options without loading the OS?

[TheGFactor]

The funny thing is... I have noticed a lot of newer laptops DON'T come with recovery disks.... Her's didn't come with one if I remember correctly.

Suppose on cold reboot it still doesn't do it. Windows 8 and 8.1 makes it hard to access the BIOS. How will I be able to access the advanced startup options without loading the OS?

Try mashing F8 or shift+F8 to get into boot options and try safe mode there is a slight  chance youll be able to land your mark with the fast boot time.

The only other way I can think to get into the safe mode or BIOS without the OS, you need a recovery flash drive...

Try disconnecting the HDD/SDD if you are desperate. It will kick you into an error and hopefully the BIOS. 

If none of this works, I think your at a lost bud. I would do a little more surfing around or wait for more people to reply, but you can either put a new SSD in it and start fresh or contact customer support.

Sorry for the lack of help