Windows 10: Runtime Broker Process

I finally completed 3 updates to Windows 10. 2 with Win10 home (one desktop 1 laptop) the last Win10 Pro on another Lenovo laptop. Each with their own set of issues. I came across the issue where the Laptop with the "pro" system was completely bogged down almost to the point of freezing (or at least what appeared as such). A delayed trip to task manager showed that Runtime Broker was hogging 87% of my CPU time and over 65% of my memory. I'm not sure what was running in background, but I had been earlier messing with Photos, and couldn't get anything out of it (instant gratification? *Tongue ) . Perhaps that was the reason I shut the system down. And am now sending this via the desktop. After seeing who was eating my resources I'll explore it a bit further. Glad to know it wasn't a Chinese Hacker attack*Biggrin

 

Great information, BUT......Why should it have such a high priority that ..for example in my experience it used 87% of cpu time, to the point that the system was almost frozen? Is there a way to change the run priority?

 

disabling "Show me tips about Windows" found on Settings -> System -> Notifications & actions seem to have fixed the high cpu usage by runtime broker, at least for me..

 

There is a whole lot more to RuntimeBroker than dealing with Notifications. Cruise on over to What is RuntimeBroker.exe and Why is it Running? to see why it is not just a useless function, especially if you use a touch screen that uses Metro Apps.

 

for every forum that i've went to that link has been posted, i've read that already. all i'm saying is turning off "show me tips" fixed my high cpu usage issue.. also, i didnt turn off registry broker service or did the registry thing on the first page so runtimebroker is still running fine.

 

Yeah, agreed. I'm probably going to go back and try your approach. I'm sure that eventually I will run into the caveat of disabling it altogether. Right now, it's not much of an issue since I don't use many metro applications, but I would like to have that functionality, even if I'm not using it right now. Thanks for the info, I'll give this a go tomorrow and see if the results are the same.

 

There is an on/off for them under your account settings icon in the store app

 

After messing with this for days, disabling everything suggested, (and more) on 3 different machines this thief still keeps stealing CPU time and memory. If a system sets idle for about an hour, task manager reports that it is using up to 99% of CPU time and over 300MB of memory. Like I said everything conceveable has been disabled; cortana, live tiles, notifications, just to name a few. This is on 3 distinctively different machines. Considering todays article in Forbes that reports that Microsoft is planning to take away all user control of updates I'm thinking it may be time to abandon ship and head back to the port of Win7.

 

well i turn the bandwidth thing off to not feed computers on the net
but the broker still consumes %15 to %20 of CPU cycles

 

Disable it in the registry. It does nothing on mine now.

 

@shinitaru
I've thought of that, and may try it on one machine, but to me that's akin to a doctor treating the symptom and not the disease. I'd like to know more about the what how and why, and understand it's function, and why Microsoft isn't dealing with the issue, I've seen countless posts on the internet about shutting it down, and I understand that gives some relief, what I'd like to know is what it's purpose is (beyond the articles we've read) if the system can run without it, why does it exist.

So in the time it took to write this post on the desktop, the laptop task manager showed runtime broker going from 0 (when I ended the task) to 64% CPU time just sitting idle.

 

It is exactly that, but I'm less concerned with the why as I am with the how. When I hear that MS has addressed the issue, I will rethink this solution. Till then, my system is running better and I'm not running the risk of frying my CPU, which was a real possibility. I'm not curious enough to risk my gear.

 

@shinitaru
I totally get that. Feeling the heat coming out of the vent on the laptops, and the case fan on the desktop is evidence that more is going on than need be. In the mean time, I have work to do and my systems were working, doing their jobs quite well with win7. For me I think that I need to be assured that all work won't be lost in the shuffle....cheers

 

Well, good luck, this issue exists since Windows 8. Microsoft's solution is to close it and hope for the best.

Runtime Broker is using too much memory - Microsoft Windows

 

While this adds credence to the fact that this is truly an issue, Even the Microsoft response is incomplete. To quote their page:

"•Runtime Broker is a Windows process in Task Manager that helps manage permissions on your PC for apps from Windows Store. It should only use a few megabytes of memory, but in some cases, a faulty app might cause Runtime Broker to use up to a gigabyte of RAM or more.
•If your RAM use is high and your PC is running slowly, an app may be the cause of the problem. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager and then, on the Processes tab, check to see how much memory Runtime Broker is using. If it’s using more than 15% of your memory, you probably have an issue with an app on your PC. To stop Runtime Broker from using so much memory, select Runtime Broker in the list, select End task to close Runtime Broker, and then restart your computer."

1. They address high memory usage, and don't even talk about CPU time. And of course it's not their fault, it's an apps fault. There should be a "trap" for that app! *Tongue
2. As I've said before (in many different ways) why deploy an OS with such a horrible bug. This issue has been reported since windows 8! Microsoft deployed windows10 claiming to fix much of previous OS issues.
3. If their answer is to disable it, or as in this instruction restart it, why is it needed in the first place.
4. Restarting the pc every 10-15 minutes is absurd, which is what I'd have to do to keep up with Runtime broker's hunger.
5. If one has to disable key attributes of windows 10, like Cortana, Live tiles, notifications, and more, to keep the system running, what's the point of having it in the first place? Those are the things people are upgrading for.

For me this OS has gotten way more hype than it deserves. When I first loaded Ubuntu as a dual boot system, (not there now, just so there is no misunderstanding) I had absolutely no issues running it. I'm not saying it was perfect but then again the Ubuntu community is not Microsoft!