- Dec 28, 2016
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In Windows XP, one instance of schost.exe was consuming 100% of CPU time, making my notebook virtually useless.
There are a lot of suggestions published on the Web for Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10, but little specific to Windows XP, so for Windows XP Users, here is my recommendation:
It took me a while to figure it out for Windows XP, but ultimately, I found the solution:
Disable Automatic Updates [wuauserv] in Services.
For Windows XP Users, here is the detail:
Start, Run, services.msc, and select Automatic Updates, right click, and select Properties to display the detail.
The Service name is: wuauserv,
Set the Services: to Stop, and Startup type: to Disabled.
Your PC will immediately snap back from 100% to a normal CPU load.
Note: this is one of several services running under this one instance of svchost.exe,
To see what else this instance of schost.exe is doing, open Command Prompt, and type: taskslist /svc.
You can identify the Task PID of the offending instance of svchost.exe via Windows Task Manager [type Ctrl Alt Del],
Select: View, Processes, and sort by Image Name to see a list of all instances of schost.exe [from all the other tasks running at the time]
If PID is not visible...
Select: Columns, and tick PID (Process Identifier), CPU Usage, and CPU Time, Memory Usage, Session ID, and User Name.
The offending instance of schost.exe will be using close to 100% CPU.
Use your PC normally.
svchost.exe (wuauserv) should not kick in again.
When convenient, confirm that svchost.exe (wuauserv) does not kick in again after a Reboot
(Typically, before being disabled, svchost.exe (wuauserv) is set with a delayed start up of up to an hour, so keep your figures crossed until then)
There are a lot of suggestions published on the Web for Windows Vista, 7, 8, and 10, but little specific to Windows XP, so for Windows XP Users, here is my recommendation:
It took me a while to figure it out for Windows XP, but ultimately, I found the solution:
Disable Automatic Updates [wuauserv] in Services.
For Windows XP Users, here is the detail:
Start, Run, services.msc, and select Automatic Updates, right click, and select Properties to display the detail.
The Service name is: wuauserv,
Set the Services: to Stop, and Startup type: to Disabled.
Your PC will immediately snap back from 100% to a normal CPU load.
Note: this is one of several services running under this one instance of svchost.exe,
To see what else this instance of schost.exe is doing, open Command Prompt, and type: taskslist /svc.
You can identify the Task PID of the offending instance of svchost.exe via Windows Task Manager [type Ctrl Alt Del],
Select: View, Processes, and sort by Image Name to see a list of all instances of schost.exe [from all the other tasks running at the time]
If PID is not visible...
Select: Columns, and tick PID (Process Identifier), CPU Usage, and CPU Time, Memory Usage, Session ID, and User Name.
The offending instance of schost.exe will be using close to 100% CPU.
Use your PC normally.
svchost.exe (wuauserv) should not kick in again.
When convenient, confirm that svchost.exe (wuauserv) does not kick in again after a Reboot
(Typically, before being disabled, svchost.exe (wuauserv) is set with a delayed start up of up to an hour, so keep your figures crossed until then)
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