WMI Provider Host constantly disrupting performance of my CPU, especially when music is playing.

Anonymous

Hello,

The WMI Provider Host always flares up to about 30% of CPU usage after about 10 minutes on. When it does, if I'm playing any music it slows the computer down so the music becomes jerky and distorted and the computer runs slowly. I don't have any 3rd party virus programs, and haven't installed many programs, so don't understand why it does this.

I have a Windows 8 Desktop machine and mostly use it for internet and playing music, so this is particularly annoying when it happens.

I am not technically minded, so does anyone have a simple solution for a technophobe?!

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Anonymous

Hi,

It appears that you have an issue with High CPU usage at idle. However, in order to guide you in the right direction; I will need some more information. Please help me by answering the question mentioned below.

Did you make any changes to the computer prior to this issue?

In-order to fix the High CPU usage issue, refer the following methods.

Method 1:

Check if you can experience the issue in ‘Safe mode with networking’; if safe mode with networking works fine then set the computer to ‘Clean boot’ state to check for software conflicts.

Step 1:

Windows Start-up Settings (including safe mode).

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-including-safe-mode

Step 2:

Keep the computer in clean boot and check the issue status.

How to perform a clean boot to troubleshoot a problem in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Note: Please go through the section: How to reset the computer to start as usual after troubleshooting with clean boot of the Kb article to boot the computer in normal startup after fixing the issue.

Method 2:

I would also suggest you to run “System Maintenance” to diagnose and fix the issue. It finds and cleans up unused files and shortcuts, and performs maintenance tasks.

Follow these steps:

a. Press “Windows key + W” from keyboard.

b. Type “Troubleshooting” without quotes in the search box and hit enter

c. From “Troubleshooting” windows click “View all” option from the left panel.

d. In the list of options, click on “System maintenance”.

e. Click “Next” and follow the on-screen instructions.

Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need assistance with Windows, we’ll be glad to assist you!

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111 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-05-31T21:29:26+00:00

Good to see that others have benefited from this post. My particular situation had nothing to do with Conduit Search. I looked for it, but decided to start removing all other bits of software installed on my system. When I found Scorpion Saver and tried to remove it, it would not install. So I did a search on the net for removing it and found this site: http://malwaretips.com/blogs/scorpion-saver-removal/

I followed the instructions there and all seems to be fine now. The CPU usage for WMIProvider is now down to 0%. Before following those instructions, it was constantly between 50 and 70%. The instructions not only removed Scorpion Saver, but tons of other stuff that had been installed by my kids as they download and install freeware stuff. When installing stuff like that, it's important to be sure that you don't install the additional adware/malware that could possibly come along with it. Most people just blindly click the next button when installing stuff and forget to actually check options for what all is being installed. Another thing to do is to look for when performance takes a nose-dive and then go to Add/Remove programs under the Control Panel and order your programs by date. That should be a clue as to what you might be able to remove.
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Anonymous

2014-05-08T05:25:05+00:00

for me there was some strange program installed called relevantknowledge causing the spike

Like what "BoS_SouthPaw" said, go through your programs and uninstall anything that looks odd.
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Anonymous

2014-04-12T00:36:35+00:00
Great! it worked for me also on Windows 8, the name was "Search conduit" provide for a process in task manager.

As previous user mentioned,

Open task manager (you can also use shortcut keys "Ctrl + Shift + Esc" on left side of your keyboard if you are using windows 8.

2 kill the task "Search Conduit" provider

go to add remove program and remove "Search Conduit" program.

This should fix the issue.

Thanks for this post and suggestion!
oh the bliss! saw this 'conduit' trying to access internet, and my firewall advised allow! not only did my laptop go from 70-90% usage down to 10-20%, I think I got back 8% memory?! i wonder if it was connected... just a point, the conduit monster (not originally on my laptop and don't know how it got there) did not like being removed! needed admin privileges and took a while. thanks for the help all.

ok, just a personal finding. The malware/adware firefoxhelper.exe and chromehelper.exe in a folder called helper, were the last cause of unwanted cpu usage. Almost impossible to remove and did not trust the methods recommended on various sites. Did the only sensible action, backed up and went back to vaio pro 13 factory start. and lo and behold, cpu after start sits on 1-2%.

One more point, tracing install dates showed that these helpers snuck through with websteroids when downloading a popular 'free' media player.
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Anonymous

2014-02-24T02:15:09+00:00

I'm running Windows 8.1 on my HP laptop and I don't have Conduit search either. If WMI Provider Host is sucking up my CPU I just end the process, and it goes away for about 10 mins then returns. I can't find any evidence of malware or malicious content on my computer and this has been going on for quite some time. Any solutions would be awesome.

Maybe this is just a bug in Windows 8?
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