husband is our expert, but he's currently watching a movie while carving some ham for our picnic tomorrow, so here is what he says:
Unless you have bought the software package from a REALLY reputable company (and husband says he only knows of three main companies) then it's possible you have bought the very stuff you're trying to eradicate - spyware, or some form of trojan horse.
Two other (hopefully more likely) scenarios - your operating system is incompatible with the software's requirements (for example, if your computer is more than a year old and in the meantime a new system has come out with a few new bells and whistles, and you haven't upgraded yet or your computer can't use the upgrade).
Another problem could be that it's trying to download from a server which is taking too much traffic, and hence the files are taking too long to download.
Something husband has told me at other times but didn't mention this time (he IS waving a carving knife around!) is that a warning sign of infection can be everything slowing down a lot (because you have, unknown to you, more stuff up and running on your computer than you actually have done yourself; the spyware is using your running time to add to the computer's workload). This can happen not only to your computer, but to servers you're trying to use.
Another possibility (especially if the program is a cheapie) - the sites the program is looking for may no longer exist, and it's spending all its time doing the computer equivalent of looking for dodos on Mauritius. A cheap, but legitimate package may simply not have been sufficiently updated before being released onto the market, and hence can't 'find' what could now be a nonexistent web site.
I'd be talking to a local IT expert on this one - someone who lives near you and who you've independently heard good things of. Failing that, either take the stuff back to where you bought it, or call your local consumer watchdog organisation and talk to them about it. If you got sold a pup, they may want to know because others may be buying the same package (if it truly is a dud).
Marg