Last week I bought a new Lenovo Ideapad 110 with Windows 10. It took me a while to get used to 10, I had 8.1 on my last PC. I’m impressed but for one thing. When I used Task Manager to check performance I saw that my CPU usage was a constant and barely unchanging 100%.
Tracking down the process responsible I found that it was Windows Modules Installer Worker, the process used by Windows Updates. I might have guessed that was at the root of it, I had this problem with 8.1 but even there it never used 100% but around half of that. I turned off the service responsible in 8.1 and did the same thing in 10 figuring I’d much rather turn the service on regularly for updates rather than leaving it on.
I’ve been trying to understand all this. My belief is that if one process is constantly hogging my CPU then it will slow down other processes. Is this true and if it is why does Windows Update need all this CPU power simply to check for updates? I’m not a computer expert and I realize I may be misunderstanding something which is why I’m appealing to those who do know what is going on inside these intricate circuits.
Does the computer feel slow? That laptop has a budget Pentium processor, which isn’t very fast to begin with. It’s entirely possible that Windows Update actually is using all that CPU, especially if you only turn it on once in a while (so it has a lot to catch up on).
Did you try leaving the service on and letting it run overnight, or manually invoking Windows Update to ensure it has all the updates downloaded and installed? Once it’s finished with a round of updates, it should go back to nearly-idle CPU usage. It shouldn’t STAY at 100%, for sure.
Given the known vulnerabilities, it’s best to leave the updates on. They download first and then run - you can set it to run at shut down as I do, then leave it running. It doesn’t need to be online to run.
There was a similar issue on Windows 7 that was finally resolved about a year ago. But all I’m finding on Windows 10 is that it might be the peer-to-peer networking, aka “Windows Update Delivery Optimization.”
From the first post I saw on Google:
To disable Windows Update Delivery Optimization, use the following steps:
[ul]
[li]Open up Settings and click Update & Security.[/li][li]Click Windows Update section to the left and then the Advanced options link to the right.[/li][li]Click Choose how updates are delivered.[/li][li]You can opt to completely disable WUDO by flicking the toggle switch to the Off position.[/li][li]Alternatively, you can continue to share updates you have downloaded to other computers you own but disabled sharing to others by leaving this toggle in the On position and selecting the PCs on my local network option.[/li][/ul]
I also notice some people saying they got stuck on an older version of Windows 10. Make sure you have the Creator’s Update installed. (Do note it is a 4GB and, even after downloading, can take a few hours to install.) Then make sure you get the June Rollup.
Other than that, the only things I can find are about if you upgraded the computer from an earlier version of Windows. Since you are talking about a new computer, that shouldn’t be a problem.
You should consider using Microsoft’s Process Explorer (here) to figure out exactly what is causing the usage. This one is much more robust than the tool available in Windows 10.
Windows 10, unless you specifically opt out, uses peer to peer updating, so in essence, Microsoft is using the bandwidth you’re not using. It’s creepy if you ask me.