CPU Getting Rocked After Recent Windows 7 Update

tsmvengy

I recently tried to install a bunch of windows updates (I guess 4/12 was like patch super Tuesday or something). After installing the updates my CPU usage was off the charts! Usage was at like 99-100% on all cores, and you couldn't really use Task Manager or Resource Monitor to figure out what was causing it. It appeared to be a program since Resource Monitor reported Services weren't using much CPU, but no programs appeared to be using lots of CPU time. I did a system restore back to Monday and everything is back to normal.

I did some googling but couldn't find any info or solutions that helped me. There didn't appear to be any recent posts on Microsoft Answers on this topic. Has anyone heard of others having this problem after the recent updates? The only solution may be to install them one by one and see what's wrong.

I'm running Windows 7 x64.

Essee

I'm pretty sure it's something that decides to run itself during (and sometimes after) the updating process itself that does this. I recently (a month or two ago) had the exact same problem, except I did see what was going on in Task Manager. The process causing the issue is TrustedInstaller.exe (why would you name a legit Microsoft process something so sketchy, anyway?). Basically, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, and set the Windows Modules Installer to Manual instead of Automatic startup. I don't know if the service actually exists on your machine before you update, but it'll definitely be there afterward. Anyway, basically... while you install the updates again, your computer WILL be dying, but if you have the service set to Manual startup, it will no longer die when you start your computer after the installation.

It COULD be another issue, but other than not being able to see what it was at the time, it sounds exactly like this problem to me.

MichaelLC

Haven't looked at solutions yet myself, but can add my mother's PC is having the same issue. Will give Essee's suggestion a try.

HP laptop, Win 7 32bit.

tsmvengy

Essee wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's something that decides to run itself during (and sometimes after) the updating process itself that does this. I recently (a month or two ago) had the exact same problem, except I did see what was going on in Task Manager. The process causing the issue is TrustedInstaller.exe (why would you name a legit Microsoft process something so sketchy, anyway?). Basically, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, and set the Windows Modules Installer to Manual instead of Automatic startup. I don't know if the service actually exists on your machine before you update, but it'll definitely be there afterward. Anyway, basically... while you install the updates again, your computer WILL be dying, but if you have the service set to Manual startup, it will no longer die when you start your computer after the installation.

It COULD be another issue, but other than not being able to see what it was at the time, it sounds exactly like this problem to me.

Just checked - it is already set to manual, and I assume it was when I installed the updates before. All this service does is either install Windows updates automatically or let you do it manually. I always set that to manual.

I don't think TrustedInstaller.exe was even running when I was getting CPU usage - I'm fairly certain of this. Like I said, when I looked at task manager there were no programs just constantly hogging CPU resources; I made sure to show processes from all users as well.

Did a little more searching and it looks like a .NET framework compiler may be the problem:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=18921037

TetraNitroCubane

tsmvengy wrote: »

Essee wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's something that decides to run itself during (and sometimes after) the updating process itself that does this. I recently (a month or two ago) had the exact same problem, except I did see what was going on in Task Manager. The process causing the issue is TrustedInstaller.exe (why would you name a legit Microsoft process something so sketchy, anyway?). Basically, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, and set the Windows Modules Installer to Manual instead of Automatic startup. I don't know if the service actually exists on your machine before you update, but it'll definitely be there afterward. Anyway, basically... while you install the updates again, your computer WILL be dying, but if you have the service set to Manual startup, it will no longer die when you start your computer after the installation.

It COULD be another issue, but other than not being able to see what it was at the time, it sounds exactly like this problem to me.

Just checked - it is already set to manual, and I assume it was when I installed the updates before. All this service does is either install Windows updates automatically or let you do it manually. I always set that to manual.

I don't think TrustedInstaller.exe was even running when I was getting CPU usage - I'm fairly certain of this. Like I said, when I looked at task manager there were no programs just constantly hogging CPU resources; I made sure to show processes from all users as well.

Did a little more searching and it looks like a .NET framework compiler may be the problem:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=18921037

Yeah, after most .NET updates through Windows Auto Updater, many instances of mscorsvw.exe will start chugging away after rebooting. The way it's designed to work, mscorsvw.exe will only start cranking on your CPU when the system has been idle for about 10 min or so, and it will do what it needs to until it's either done, or the system becomes active again (in which case it goes idle itself until use stops). In some cases mscorsvw.exe isn't very polite, and just starts taking as much CPU as it wants immediately, and regardless of activity. That's when things start getting slow.

In the end, though, it's usually just best to walk away from the machine until mscorsvw.exe is done doing its thing. Everything should be back to normal after that.

Usually I look at CPU usage by looking at Process Explorer. If you run it as admin, it shows much more information than Task Manager.

Essee

TetraNitroCubane wrote: »

tsmvengy wrote: »

Essee wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it's something that decides to run itself during (and sometimes after) the updating process itself that does this. I recently (a month or two ago) had the exact same problem, except I did see what was going on in Task Manager. The process causing the issue is TrustedInstaller.exe (why would you name a legit Microsoft process something so sketchy, anyway?). Basically, go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services, and set the Windows Modules Installer to Manual instead of Automatic startup. I don't know if the service actually exists on your machine before you update, but it'll definitely be there afterward. Anyway, basically... while you install the updates again, your computer WILL be dying, but if you have the service set to Manual startup, it will no longer die when you start your computer after the installation.

It COULD be another issue, but other than not being able to see what it was at the time, it sounds exactly like this problem to me.

Just checked - it is already set to manual, and I assume it was when I installed the updates before. All this service does is either install Windows updates automatically or let you do it manually. I always set that to manual.

I don't think TrustedInstaller.exe was even running when I was getting CPU usage - I'm fairly certain of this. Like I said, when I looked at task manager there were no programs just constantly hogging CPU resources; I made sure to show processes from all users as well.

Did a little more searching and it looks like a .NET framework compiler may be the problem:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=18921037

Yeah, after most .NET updates through Windows Auto Updater, many instances of mscorsvw.exe will start chugging away after rebooting. The way it's designed to work, mscorsvw.exe will only start cranking on your CPU when the system has been idle for about 10 min or so, and it will do what it needs to until it's either done, or the system becomes active again (in which case it goes idle itself until use stops). In some cases mscorsvw.exe isn't very polite, and just starts taking as much CPU as it wants immediately, and regardless of activity. That's when things start getting slow.

In the end, though, it's usually just best to walk away from the machine until mscorsvw.exe is done doing its thing. Everything should be back to normal after that.

Usually I look at CPU usage by looking at Process Explorer. If you run it as admin, it shows much more information than Task Manager.

Yeah, I had forgotten about the .NET installer junk... there was indeed an update to the .NET framework recently, but I think it behaved normally on my machine this time, so I didn't think of it. So yeah, let it do its thing, and hopefully it'll leave you alone. If the problem refuses to go away, you can try disabling all of the .NET Framework NGEN services, since the most they do is maybe improve the startup time of .NET applications while they're running in the background, and see if that helps.