Multiple instances of ethernet adapter created / DNS client using >50%  

The system

OS: Windows 10 version 1909
PC: HP Envy Laptop
CPU: Intel Core i7 5500U @ 2.40GHz
RAM: 16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz
GPU: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce 940M (HP)
Running the paid versions of Avast and Malwarebytes. Both up-to-date.

The problems

1: Recently, when starting the system, Avast has identified it as a new network, when in fact the laptop has always been connected to my Amplifi router, which connects to my ISP's ONT. I've told Avast it is in fact a private network, it's done a scan, found the usual stuff connected, said it's okay and I've shrugged and got to work.

Then today I thought I'd check my network settings, and lo and behold, I see this:


2: Then, also recently (but I can't be sure it was around the same time the problem described in (1) started) the DNS Client service hosts has begun using over 50% of CPU capacity for long (up to an hour) periods, bringing everything to a grinding halt. I've researched threads on here and elsewhere on how to try to fix that, but none have mentioned the first problem as also occurring.

The questions

1. Is this coincidence or are the issues related?
2. Do I try the fixes suggested for the second problem and hope the first will go away?
3. Or is there a fix which will deal with both?
4. And if not, how do I also prevent multiple connectors spawning without my doing anything to create them?!

TIA

Hi Ken, thanks for helping out.

There's no third party tools, registry enhancers or network optimizers running.

I've used both Avast and Malware Bytes for years without this problem occurring but of course it could be that MS has changed something that's causing them to misbehave, so I'm happy to try your suggestions.

I don't have Defender active so as not to clash with either of the above - so when you say "This will leave you with just Defender" I presume that means I need to activate it while the others are off.

Will do the network reset now. I have a VPN (Witopia) but use that only as needed - to get around geoblocked content - and not all the time, so can easily reinstall that when needed.

It'll obviously take me a while to see if this keeps happening under those conditions, so will get back to you either when it reoccurs or if it doesn't after a reasonable time.

Thanks

Rex

After a week of no recurrence, I've marked this as "solved". hopefully it is. The trick seemed to be the network reset, as neither Avast nor Malwarebytes caused a recurrence (though that doesn't, of course, mean they weren't responsible to begin with).