The taskhost.exe application consumes 50-60% of the average cpu usage

Anonymous
2010-02-10T09:05:52+00:00

The taskhost.exe application(C:\Windows\System 32) consumes 50-60% of the average cpu usage even when the system is idle  and no processes are being run.

Will deleting this application make my computer unstable?

How can  i permanently stop the process ?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Windows update

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Anonymous
2010-02-11T04:26:39+00:00

Hey Abhishek,

The taskhost.exe is a Task Host which is a generic Host Process for Windows 7 32-bit Services. The full path to this file should be shown in TUT as **C:\Windows\System32\Taskhost.exe.**TASKHOST is a generic process which acts as a host for processes that run from DLLs rather than EXEs. At startup TASKHOST checks the Services portion of the Registry to construct a list of DLL-based services that it needs to load, and then loads them. There can be many instances of TASKHOST running, as there will be one instance of TASKHOST for every DLL-based service or grouping of services (the grouping of services is determined by the programmers who wrote the services in question).

Since this is an integral part of the operating system, I wouldn’t suggest you to delete it.

However, for the high CPU consumption issue, please use Performance Monitor to view performance data either in real time or from a log file.

The new Resource Monitor lets you view detailed real-time information about hardware resources (CPU, disk, network, and memory) and system resources (including handles and modules) in use by the operating system, services, and running applications. In addition, you can use Resource Monitor to stop processes, start and stop services, analyze process deadlocks, view thread wait chains, and identify processes locking files.

A closer look:

View CPU utilization and other performance information**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/View-CPU-utilization-and-other-performance-information**

See details about your computer's performance using Task Manager**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/See-details-about-your-computers-performance-using-Task-Manager**

Last but not the least, perform virus scan to remove any trace of infection on your computer. If your antivirus database is not updated, please update the same and then run the scan. If you don't have antivirus installed, you may opt to download Microsoft Security Essentials on your computer and run it.

**http://www.microsoft.com/Security\_Essentials/**

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-03-20T02:41:03+00:00

    I am experiencing a very similar situation.

    • clean install of Win 7 Ultimate 64bit
    • duo core machine
    • machine has 8G ram   (Lenovo W500)

    Taskhost.exe will sporadically take up to 50+% of the processor.  I can kill it it and the machine returns to normal.

    I notice the taskhost.exe is running under the user LOCAL SERVICE. 

    I have run updated scans with security essentails, malwarebytes, adaware, spybot... nothing reported by any of these. 

    Some more information that may help - when I look in the resource monitor -

    Screen clipping taken: 3/19/2010 9:29 PM

    the image above didn't paste with all the information I wanted - but there is a reference to some files in

    c:\windows\serviceprofiles\localservice\appdata\

    IE5 - internet content files

    Not sure of any this sheds more light - but thought I would throw it out there.

    My hunch is that there is something in the folders below the path listed above that the virus scanners aren't getting access to and so not identifying malware, etc

    Also the type column in the resource monitor is showing a type of "mutant"....

    any ideas?   This machine shouldn't be slowing down like this...  Any help appreciated

    thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-03-18T04:36:38+00:00

    the CPU does not run at 50% after WIN7 boots up. It only occurs after opening and exiting any program.

    I thought that it might be 3rd party software but it happens with more then one program.

    the only way to stop this is to go into task manager and close taskhost.exe everytime i exit a program.

    I am out of ideas!

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-03-18T04:24:56+00:00

    Hey Mark,

    Just to make sure that a third party application isn’t causing this intensive CPU consumption, boot to safe mode with Networking and see how the computer behaves.

    Refer:

    Start your computer in safe mode**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Start-your-computer-in-safe-mode**

    Advanced startup options (including safe mode)**http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode**

    If the CPU consumption is normal as supposed to be, ideally it would be third party applications interring with Windows services.

    Clean boot configuration would be the best option here as this doesn’t load any of the non Microsoft services or other startup items.

    Refer this article for help.

    How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7**http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135**

    If this doesn’t help, I would suggest Bernie to create a new post so that we can assist with the exact issue.

    Regards,

    Shinmila H - Microsoft Support

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-03-15T22:32:40+00:00

    Hi guys

    I have the same problem i run Win 7 64bit Ultimate, this was a clean system install.

    I have completed full virus scans with updated Aviria, BitDefender, & Malwarebytes. I still have the same problem.

    As soon as i start win7 and all the background programs are loaded my computer runs fine. i can leave this for hrs and taskhost.exe doesnt use any cpu power. But when i run any program/game and exit straight away, taskhost.exe will remain running and use 50% of my cpu, sometimes 100% of one of my cores. I would love to hear any other ideas anyone has with this issue.

    Bernie

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