Windows 10: Occasional high CPU usage on Windows 10

Hi,

Thanks for the information.

I doubt that having dual boot would cause the high CPU, as I believe that it was doing it before dual booting (it started off with windows 10 preinstalled).

It was installing something - I was checking Windows Update (it automatically installs updates on 10, doesn't it?) and it started updating to the first "big update" for Windows 10 Home (can't remember what version it is). So now it's installing that - currently 32% complete.

Next time I will use screenshots - unless its not possible to use screenshots in safe mode?

 

I mean how dual boot affects the instructions on booting into safe mode. Nothing to do with CPU use.

The snipping tool is a tiny exe, so should run in safe mode. Services and a lot of drivers are disabled in Safe mode, plus nothing you've installed starts up.

 

Hi,

This is not in safe mode but this is a screenshot of what happens when the CPU thing starts:





I can see when this happens (even without the task manager) because of my CPU gadgets - which use about 2% of my CPU (so the desktop gadgets are not an issue).

Any help would be appreciated.

edit: It does this on battery power too... why does it do this? There's also something called mscorsvw which also uses CPU usage, any ideas?

 

Hi, how did cleanmgr.exe start? Did you start it manually?
Or do you have a scheduled task- like this?
Use Windows Task Scheduler to Schedule Disk Cleanup




That's what you see if you launch cleanmgr.exe - it does some disk cleanup activities.
Similar from rt click drive, Properties, General tab...

Please try Safe Mode so we can establish that you can achieve a state where this doesn't happen.

Thanks

 

Hi, thanks for the help.

I have not used the Task Scheduler at all on this computer, and I did not start it either - has Windows 10 automatically started it? If so then how can I stop this from happening again?

I will restart the computer into Safe Mode and see what happens - do you want ordinary Safe Mode, or Safe Mode with Networking etc?

Edit: I've gone into Safe Mode and it looks as if everything is fine - "System Idle Process" remains at the top, with 99%, followed by Task Manager (using less than 1% CPU). Don't know how to take a screenshot in Safe Mode as I can't access Paint.

 

Screenshots: As said above:
The snipping tool is a tiny exe, so should run in safe mode.
Type 'Snip' in the search box. (Been in Windows since '7 I think).
(You can always search for things like
' How do I take a screenshot in "Windows 10" ' )
to find out how to do things.

The tool can save the image as a file.

Cleanmgr.exe
- I think this may have been triggered by an automatic maintenance schedule.

See this:




In Settings, type Maintenance in the search box.
Click on
Change Automatic Maintenance Settings

and post what you see.

If there is a schedule or time that fits with when you see the high usage, set the schedule for e.g. 2a.m. - when you're not using the PC.

 

Hi,

I still can't find the Snipping Tool under Safe Mode in Windows 10 - if I type "snipping tool" into the taskbar, it doesn't come up with anything (does search not work in safe mode?).

Do I need Safe Mode with Networking, rather than Safe Mode?

 

Edit: This is what I get when I look at when Automatic Maintenance is supposed to start:





So it looks like that isn't an issue.

Under normal mode:





Any suggestions?

Next up: getting the snip tool to work in safe mode!

 

Hi:
1. Snip.. Ok, so I've now learnt Cortana search doesn't work in Safe Mode. (Obviously the Windows search index is there, but Cortana has elements missing - services- that means it can't function properly). My glib assumption that MS things would work.

Solution 1: In normal mode, search for and find Snip(pint tool), then pin it to the start menu. Thus it is easily accessible in Safe Mode
Solution 2: Use Classic Shell as a start menu. It's search easily finds the snipping tool in Safe Mode.
Solution 3: Download and install 1 of many freeware screenshot tools.
etc.

Another way MS has made it difficult as by default the Snipping tool doesn't appear on the Win 10 start menu.

2. Cleanmgr.exe
Clearly sthg triggered that - in your earlier screenshot. Question is if it's not a scheduled task, then what?



Search for optim (ise) in Settings, Click Defrag and optimise, check off as shown

 

'system and compressed memory' - please search the forum for the 6+ threads on this- various causes found for high CPU use from the obscure onwards. May not be easy to fix. Should be minimal CPU in the idle case.

Many results for CPU use problems with this new Win 10 feature if you search generally.
E.g.
cpu use "'system and compressed memory"

Examples of a range of 'solutions' found here:
Why is using so much CPU?? SB, th2, all updated and indexing done. : Surface

= several and varied. I.e. no one cause.

A few thoughts from posts here:
About system and memory compressio
Windows 10 Memory Compression - Windows 10 Forums

• Memory leak- driver

Post 18:
System running super slow with Windows 10

Unresolved- presumed driver
System and Compressed Memory - Windows 10 Forums

• MS update KB3124262

This is the update that is causing my system memory to go higher. Sometimes over 300mb to 500mb
Cumulative Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3124262)
consuming 1-3GB of RAM - Windows 10 Forums
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...23a?auth=1This

• Acessing Facebook in browser

High CPU usage - System and Compressed Memory

• Turnoff "show me tips about Windows."

System and compressed memory slowing down disk operation

100% disk + System and compressed memory

• Solved- driver latency

Is this normal? System and compressed memory process ALWAYS at 20% cpu

• Solved - Adblock.

Windows 10 HIGH CPU Usage

• Unresolved - tried setting pagefile size manually.

HELP - System and compressed memory constantly at 35% CPU

 

Hi,

Got an update for you, here is the results for the cleanmgr. In Defrag and Optimize, it was set to weekly; I have since turned it off:





However, if it was previously set to weekly, then why would it be doing this on every idle?

I have since been into Safe Mode and got this:





So it looks like all is fine on safe mode.

Any ideas? On my old Acer Aspire running Windows 7, I had to run Iobit "Advanced SystemCare" to get rid of a BSOD Issue - which thankfully worked quite nicely. I installed the latest version of ASC on this HP and it came up with quite a few errors:





Do you think that this could be related to the CPU usage?

This is a relatively fresh install of Windows 10; the Windows 7 install (on the same computer, via dual boot) doesn't have this issue.

I was also informed that they had to put a different BIOS on my machine, for the dual boot to run (I also see that HP is advising me of a BIOS Update), would this affect anything? Would this stop my dual boot from working?

 

Hi,

Most of those threads seem to be to do with RAM usage - my RAM isn't a problem as I have 30% RAM usage with a few tabs open on Slimjet (Chromium based browser). McAfee is using the most RAM (152MB), followed by System and Compressed Memory (100MB). This isn't causing any problems at all.

What is causing problems are the spikes in idle CPU usage - I read the thread about Facebook and System but I don't use Facebook - this happens in idle, no matter what is (or isn't) running.

edit: I saw the one about drivers and BIOSes - any way to tell if a driver has had it? I might also need to update my BIOS as I know it was rolled back to accommodate dual booting, but I'd rather not update the BIOS if it will mess up my dual boot.

edit 2: Also looked at this: Solved Is this normal? System and compressed memory process ALWAYS at 20% cpu - Windows 10 Forums and ran LatencyMon. It didn't seem to point to any driver issues (though the System Kernel wasn't using CPU, as it wasn't idle) though it did suggest a new BIOS. Might have to look into updating the BIOS!

edit 3: I think it's an intermittent something because I've left it idling for a good 4 hours or so and it's sitting at very low usage and at 30'C, which is nice and cool! However, the first time (or possibly the second, not sure how it works) it idles, and you don't let it complete what it wants to do, it will use lots of CPU at idle. Is this a function of Windows 10 that does this? Because I still haven't installed my software across, and if it's going to act funny on Win10 (with no apparent resolution), I might just use Windows 7 as my main OS.

 

Hi, one thing at a time, methinks.
If cleanmgr.exe is being started in normal mode when there's no apparent cause, you need to identify that.

First try a clean boot and see if your system remains quiet then.
Clean Boot - Perform in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts - Windows 10 Forums

That applies to both system and compressed memory and cleanmgr.exe

If all is ok, follow the above tutorial to progressively enable more until you encounter a change in behaviour.
---------------------------------------
If you find a long current thread about registry cleaners here you'll see advice is in general heavily against. I'd certainly be unhappy about sthg making so many changes.

 

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I'm booting up the laptop now so will do a "clean boot" and see if it remains fine.

Then I'll use the tutorial (I had a look at it earlier today) and will hopefully find the culprit. Seeing as though it is fine in safe mode, it isn't a BIOS related issue (not that I think!).

Also, thank you for the information about registry cleaners (which is partly what ASC does). I only installed it because it fixed a BSOD on my Acer Aspire laptop, which runs windows 7. I will uninstall ASC.
Funnily enough, my 8.1 laptop, which doesn't have ASC, is fine, and has always been fine.

edit: Uninstalled ASC. No changes to the running of the machine (I uninstalled ASC before it could have the chance to make any alterations to my machine).
Tried clean boot. Worked fine.
Now going through the list of services to see exactly what is causing the issue. Seeing as though I hid the Microsoft Services (they all ran), I doubt it was a MS service causing this. Will report back later.

 

Brief thought on registry:
Much risk in using cleaners vs negligible gain.

Useful tools:
1. Geek uninstaller (free)
- runs normal uninstall then a scan to pick up leftovers. Option to delete. Reliable.
2. Revo Uninstaller free & pro
Has a monitor if you wish, so you can monitor each installation. Thus using that ensures complete removal when you use that record.
Or, can do as Geek uninstaller does, and scan after normal uninstall.

There are other tools that do this, of course