Windows 10 -- high CPU usage is a real issue

I also upgraded from Win 7 days ago and it took me 24 hours!!!!! And evertime I try to load the system it gets stuck...

It took me two download attempts to get the entire 2.87 GIGABYTE file to download. After it did download, it installed without any issues but the one, high CPU usage -- the subject of this thread. It took some time to research the high CPU usage and when I found the fix for that (on Softpedia) that problem is now completely solved. I've also removed or disabled many of the features on Win 10 that I will never use and that increase the CPU "overhead" and boot time. It is now booting faster than my Win 7 Pro x64 PC and the CPU usage (when not running programs) is UNDER 1%. So far, I like Win 10 very much. It's customization is excellent.

Your thought process and concerns mirror mine. Now my CPU usage is running about 1% at idle. FYI, I just purchased another PC (built by Puget Systems) running Win 10 and its CPU usage at idle is typically under 1%. Both of my desktops are running cool with the low CPU usage. Good luck.

Louis

Snarkypuss said:

I just noticed this happening on my Alienware M17 today. I used the regedit fix (changed the 0000003 to 0000004) and I will see if that is working or not. I have everything else in that softpedia article mentioned above turned off. My computer is in "aluminum hat" mode currently, even got rid of the windows 10 app store. Cortana is off, so is P2P.

I am actually worried that if I walk away from my PC it will overwork my CPU and cause damage or deteriorate its lifespan (over time). This is something I want to get under control right away, all the nice bells and whistles on Windows 10 are really useless on an overclocked high end gaming rig if they push my CPU to high and overheat the machine.

Edit: it seems to have piped down a little (since the fixes from the softpedia page) but my CPU is still pushing 20-35% on some cores when it idles, causing the CPU temperature to rise to 80 degrees Celsius. The fan then kicks in on low settings and cools it down and it is safe until it reaches 85 degrees Celsius but... I don't want my computer working its brains out everytime I go AFK. I am going to have to turn off factory overclocking just to feel safe, which will drop my CPU speed from 4.1gz to 3.6gz. That kinda irritates me.

Louisaz said:

Here is the article: Windows 10 High CPU Usage Fixes - Softpedia
The first method described worked -- perfectly and immediately. No coincidence.

Very obscure, but worked for me too after four attempted upgrades and two weeks of troubleshooting on ThinkPad Yoga i7 x64.

Thank you. This appears to have helped reduce my CPU speed, while no user activated programs are running.
I was getting 100% maxed CPU while I was not running any programs, sometimes even with airplane mode turned on, causing my fan to become very loud.