Constant 20% CPU usage by windows explorer.

[Ace McPlane]

Hi,

I've got constant 20% CPU usage in my task manager on the "windows explorer" process even while I'm running a prime95 stress test.

 

I accidentally installed Avast antivirus the other day, but immediately uninstalled it.

That's what's causing this isn't it? 

 

So anyways, should I use their avast removal tool instead or is that just going to cause more bloatware as well?

 

 

[Princess Luna]

Would've been nice if you mentioned what's your CPU, better yet entire system spec.

[GoldenLag]

run windows defender and Malwarebytes.

 

but honestly

 

it just sounds like windows is doing windows stuff.......

[heksenketelpc]

for removing avast,

 

first remove it from your program list with the normal uninstaller,

then download their removal tool from their site and let that clean a bit more

[Ace McPlane]

51 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Would've been nice if you mentioned what's your CPU, better yet entire system spec.

9700k

asrock z390 taichi

asus strix gtx 1080 oc gaming edition

corsair vengeance pro rgb 3200mhz

corsair ax760

samsung 970 evo

seagate barracuda 2tb 7200rpm hard drive

kingston v300 240gb ssd

fractal design s36

[Ace McPlane]

53 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

run windows defender and Malwarebytes.

 

but honestly

 

it just sounds like windows is doing windows stuff.......

It wasn't doing this before and I left prime95 running overnight and it was still happening.

Not only that, but hwinfo was also taking up like 15-20 percent as well at that point and the memory usage for both was gradually climbing. I haven't seen anything act this way under load before. Usually windows will postpone whatever it's doing when there's a 100% load on the CPU.

[Ace McPlane]

Update: restarting the windows explorer process fixed it for like 2 minutes and then the issue came right back. I left the computer alone for 5 hours and was still doing it when I came back.

Nothing about this is normal behavior, because again.. normally this kind of thing would stop when a load is put on the CPU like prime95.

 

I gave up and am reinstalling windows again for the 2nd time this week.

I kind of want to give Bill Gates a noogie right now

Man, windows can be a hot pile of garbage sometimes.

[Ace McPlane]

Update:

I reinstalled windows and the problem is gone.

 

I'm not sure what caused it to begin with, but I'll list some things that may have based on what I did differently. These are in order of what I think was most likely to be the cause:

 

1. I deleted my steam library and reinstalled all of the games this time. I noticed when I used process explorer on the windows explorer process, steam was what was under it in the drop down menu. I did the same with my Oculus games. Good thing Canada still has net neutrality because that was about 2tb of games

2. I didn't install the app shop this time (asrock's live update tool). I normally wouldn't even install something like that, but I was trying to see if I could update an audio driver because it was having issues. I noticed the problem after uninstalling it anyways so it could have been the culprit.

3. I accidentally installed avast anti-virus last time with some bloatware attached to another problem. I didn't make that mistake this time.

4. I updated everything in windows before installing any drivers this time and then updated again afterwards.

 

It was probably one of those 4 things anyways in case anyone gets the same issue.

 

 

[Ace McPlane]

I got the problem again after reinstalling windows for another reason and this time I bullseyed the issue, because I wasn't about to reinstall yet again.

It was steam after all.

 

Solution:

It's simple. Just uninstall steam and reinstall it.

 

Another thing to try would be Ccleaner, but I wouldn't bet on it working:

Analyze and clean. Then go to the registry button and scan for issues then fix all issues MAKING SURE YOU CHOOSE TO BACKUP THE REGISTRY. Do this again and again until no issues are left.

 

If that doesn't work, I bet another solution to another problem I encountered that day would help too:

 

.Open a command prompt with administrative privileges

.type each line here and press enter after each one:

Warning your computer will restart after this so save any work you have.

 

ie4uinit.exe -show 

 

taskkill /IM explorer.exe /F 

 

DEL /A /Q "%localappdata%\IconCache.db" 

 

DEL /A /F /Q "%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\iconcache*"

 

shutdown /r /f /t 00

 

Windows search indexing can get all screwed up over icon files so that's a good one to bet on. It'd also help to clear out the contents of both C:\windows\temp and C:\users\<yourname>\appdata\local\temp 

 

If you still have issues after all that, maybe you still need to close the explorer process and manually start it again. Open your task manager, end the "windows explorer" task. Then go to file, start new task, type explorer.exe, and press enter. 

 

Side note:

If you need to get your icons back after reinstalling steam:

You have to go to each game you have installed in steam, right click, go to properties - local files, and verify the integrity of the game files for each one. You can immediately quit each verification. The icon is restored as soon as you press it so don't bother waiting.

 

 

[Ace McPlane]

Nevermind!

 

The problem is back again.

 

I can’t believe I’m reinstalling windows yet again, but that’s where I’m at. 

[rockingryan]

Not to get your hopes up -- I don't have a solution to offer... but I have been having this same exact problem also! I boot up my PC*, and all is normal until minutes later, I notice my fans speed up as Windows Explorer requires 20-25% of my CPU for a process that remains unknown to me. Once it hits that amount of CPU usage, it stays there overall, consistently. It's frustrating since I can't pinpoint what's causing this. I have gone down the line of possible solutions provided online to no avail. After completing any given solution, I'm fooled and it seems like it was successful. But eventually (again, not too long after booting up my PC) that 20-25% CPU usage from WE returns. Sorry to be vague, but I'd say the only thing I have not tried is a clean wipe. I'm afraid of such an investment of time just for the problem to return. You seem to be the only person I can find whose problem matches mine.

 

Your last post on this thread being a few months ago now: have you found a working solution since then? Either way, thanks for reading this.

 

*My Specs:

CPU:   Intel Core i5 9600k (OCed @ 4.5Ghz)
GPU:   EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 Ti
RAM:   CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000mhz
Storage:   Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD
PSU:   Smart M Series 750 Watts 80 Plus Bronze Modular ATX Power Supply
MOBO:   Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi LGA 1151 ATX Intel Motherboard

[Mick Naughty]

Pretty sure my normal rig does it. But only when ie is open. Thought it was normal but surprised how I never noticed before. 

[rockingryan]

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Edited June 29, 2019 by rockingryan
solution shared failed

[Ace McPlane]

On 6/29/2019 at 12:01 AM, rockingryan said:

Not to get your hopes up -- I don't have a solution to offer... but I have been having this same exact problem also! I boot up my PC*, and all is normal until minutes later, I notice my fans speed up as Windows Explorer requires 20-25% of my CPU for a process that remains unknown to me. Once it hits that amount of CPU usage, it stays there overall, consistently. It's frustrating since I can't pinpoint what's causing this. I have gone down the line of possible solutions provided online to no avail. After completing any given solution, I'm fooled and it seems like it was successful. But eventually (again, not too long after booting up my PC) that 20-25% CPU usage from WE returns. Sorry to be vague, but I'd say the only thing I have not tried is a clean wipe. I'm afraid of such an investment of time just for the problem to return. You seem to be the only person I can find whose problem matches mine.

 

Your last post on this thread being a few months ago now: have you found a working solution since then? Either way, thanks for reading this.

 

*My Specs:

CPU:   Intel Core i5 9600k (OCed @ 4.5Ghz)
GPU:   EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 Ti
RAM:   CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000mhz
Storage:   Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD
PSU:   Smart M Series 750 Watts 80 Plus Bronze Modular ATX Power Supply
MOBO:   Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi LGA 1151 ATX Intel Motherboard

It's been a long while since I had this issue so I can't remember what I did to solve it, sorry, but yea I eventually figured it out. I think I just reinstalled windows a few times until the problem went away. I can't say for sure though.

[AndreiRO]

I also have the exact same problem. One temporary solution is that I created another user and switched to that one and it worked for about a year I think, just today the problem started again on the new user. I tried this because I didn't have time to do a complete reinstall. Based on this it seems to be a user profile issue. I'll try ccleaner, maybe it can help.