Insane RAM spikes from Service Host: Diagnostic Policy

eLPuSHeR said:

Another shot in the dark. How are you installing drivers (and where from)?. You could try Snappy Driver Installer.
Enable System Restore first and make sure the program is creating a Restore Point.

I'm getting them from Lenovo's official site.

But it's not a driver issue. See screenshots above, because when I clean installed Windows 10, I had no drivers installed from anywhere and it was still happening.

Ztruker said:

Do you have a Ethernet connection that you can use instead of the WiFi? I'm just noticing the WiFi is also spiking all over the place too.
Thinking disable WiFi and run with a Ethernet connection, see if that makes any difference. Probably won't matter but it's something easy to check.

Rich..........
I think you cracked the code! While on battery power, as soon as I disconnected from Wi-Fi, the spikes stopped. I restarted the laptop multiple times and it indeed stayed true.As soon as I connected back to Wi-Fi, the spikes would start again.


THEN.......

I remembered some of those "hidden" settings in Power Options in the Control Panel. I only have "Balanced" as a power plan option (probably because of the Windows 10 clean install), but I went into "Change plan settings" and clicked:
Change advanced power settings > Wireless Adapter Settings > On Battery..... this option was set to "Medium power saving".
I changed it to "Maximum Performance" (same as Plugged In), and guess what! The spikes seem to have stopped, even when connected to Wi-Fi AND on battery!

Rich, I think you found the answer! I'll be testing this a couple more times tonight and tomorrow, but I really think this solved it! Thank you!!!!!!!! I legit almost bought a new laptop because of this. Seems to me that Intel/MS are shipping out crappy drivers that are setting that option above to "Medium power saving" by default for some reason. For reference, the Wi-Fi card in this computer is an Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165.

Ztruker said:

That is amazing! Talk about off the wall or pulled out of the hat I'm really glad that helped though. I know it was driving you nuts and it was beginning to niggle me a bit too.

Thank you Rich and everyone on this thread!

Nice. An interesting find Rich.