Explorer.exe taking up 20% or more CPU

[tobiasbr]

I've been having this issue with Windows 10, after my computer has been on for 3 hours or more explorer starts using 20%+ of my CPU. I installed Windows 10 recently and I've already scanned my pc for viruses and malwares and everything is fine. Windows is updated and so are the drivers and stuff. As a walkaround I have to restart my pc every 3 hours of use but that's getting really annoying, anyone has a clue of what this might be?

 

[Digerati]

Explorer.exe is Windows main core component and is not to be confused with iexplorer.exe which is Internet Explorer - just making sure we are on the same page.

Do you get any errors if you just let it keep going? Have you made any recent changes? What security programs are you scanning with?

If you run sfc /scannow from an elevated command prompt, do you get any errors? And are any not fixed?

 

[tobiasbr]

Hello there,

Thanks for trying to help me with my issue.

It is explorer.exe, the main windows component. I don't get any errors or anything, but after my computer has been running for 3 hours and a half approximately, explorer.exe spikes to around 20% CPU usage and never decreases until I restart my computer again. I've done sfc /scannow and no errors were found. I use Avast Antivirus and Comodo Firewall, I have tried booting my pc with these programs shut down but the issue persists. I haven't tried booting into safe mode because the issue happens after ~3,5 hours of use.

 

[Digerati]

Well, I see no reason to use Avast or Comodo Firewall as Windows Defender and Windows Firewall more than sufficient for most users - and they are already built in to Windows 10. If more real-time security is needed, I recommend using Malwarebytes's Anti-Malware (MBAM) Premium. But for most users, MBAM free as an on-demand supplemental is just fine. WD and WF along with MBAM is what I use on all my systems. Avast is a fine security program, but is known to hog resources.

 

[tobiasbr]

I uninstalled both Avast and Comodo but my problem persists. I scanned my system with Malwarebytes and nothing was found. What could be possibly causing this?

 

[xilolee]

Hi tobiasbr. :welcome:
Run the following command from a command prompt:

tasklist|sort|find /i /v "image name"|find /v "====" > "%userprofile%\desktop\tasklist.txt"

You should find a text file on your desktop after it, open it and then report the result here (possibly, using the show/hide button).

:wave:

 

[tobiasbr]

Here it is!

Read More:

Agent.exe 4560 Console 1 15,016 K
ApplicationFrameHost.exe 3364 Console 1 26,348 K
atieclxx.exe 1284 Console 1 9,972 K
atiesrxx.exe 1136 Services 0 7,228 K
audiodg.exe 520 Services 0 11,472 K
AvastUI.exe 3920 Console 1 24,580 K
Battle.net.exe 5468 Console 1 69,340 K
Calculator.exe 1808 Console 1 32,988 K
cavwp.exe 2808 Services 0 1,736 K
CCC.exe 268 Console 1 9,860 K
conhost.exe 3248 Console 1 16,620 K
conhost.exe 4372 Console 1 10,656 K
csrss.exe 612 Services 0 3,528 K
csrss.exe 728 Console 1 10,668 K
dwm.exe 368 Console 1 45,804 K
explorer.exe 308 Console 1 83,016 K
find.exe 1392 Console 1 7,096 K
find.exe 7032 Console 1 7,104 K
fontdrvhost.exe 4796 Console 1 5,896 K
Fuel.Service.exe 1444 Services 0 18,340 K
Lightshot.exe 5388 Console 1 12,416 K
lsass.exe 792 Services 0 15,764 K
MOM.exe 5332 Console 1 5,484 K
RuntimeBroker.exe 3728 Console 1 32,284 K
SearchIndexer.exe 3892 Services 0 21,508 K
SearchUI.exe 4252 Console 1 90,472 K
services.exe 784 Services 0 9,452 K
ShellExperienceHost.exe 384 Console 1 67,516 K
sihost.exe 3148 Console 1 23,092 K
Skype.exe 5072 Console 1 135,720 K
smss.exe 500 Services 0 916 K
sort.exe 6924 Console 1 6,928 K
spoolsv.exe 1156 Services 0 12,980 K
Steam.exe 2596 Console 1 47,876 K
SteamService.exe 4988 Services 0 10,332 K
steamwebhelper.exe 4980 Console 1 24,988 K
steamwebhelper.exe 6244 Console 1 24,084 K
svchost.exe 396 Services 0 40,008 K
svchost.exe 432 Services 0 23,320 K
svchost.exe 440 Services 0 10,388 K
svchost.exe 516 Services 0 85,336 K
svchost.exe 640 Services 0 18,172 K
svchost.exe 928 Services 0 19,924 K
svchost.exe 976 Services 0 12,016 K
svchost.exe 1076 Services 0 24,412 K
svchost.exe 1640 Services 0 21,948 K
svchost.exe 1832 Services 0 8,868 K
svchost.exe 2012 Services 0 23,068 K
svchost.exe 2096 Services 0 21,468 K
svchost.exe 5828 Console 1 14,012 K
System 4 Services 0 162,524 K
System Idle Process 0 Services 0 4 K
taskhostw.exe 3164 Console 1 19,016 K
tasklist.exe 508 Console 1 10,572 K
Taskmgr.exe 2700 Console 1 39,676 K
unsecapp.exe 5856 Console 1 9,768 K
wininit.exe 708 Services 0 4,248 K
winlogon.exe 848 Console 1 8,508 K
WmiPrvSE.exe 2656 Services 0 16,052 K
WUDFHost.exe 1208 Services 0 9,452 K

 

[xilolee]

It seems you haven't uninstalled neither avast nor comodo, given that their services are still present.
Did you reboot your machine?

 

[tobiasbr]

I haven't rebooted yet because the problem goes away after I reboot , at least for the first 3 hours of use, and to diagnose it I need it to be happening right? It's so weird it happens after 3 hours of use, if I kill explorer.exe CPU usage goes back to normal, but if I restart the task CPU usage spikes again

 

[xilolee]

Yup.
Reboot and check if those services aren't present, and if Windows defender and Windows firewall will be enabled.
Then let's see if your problem disappears or remains, after those three hours...
In the meanwhile, you could do an update and a complete scan with windows defender.
You could also try Emsisoft Emergency Kit (it is installable as portable).

 

[tobiasbr]

The problem is gone now, thanks.

 

[xilolee]

Hence the problem was caused by either avast or comodo or both...
Glad you solved it! :dance: