A process called Service Host: Local System is using up all of my laptops resources

Dear Microsoft,

This is quite remarkable. We are now in March 2016 and the first post is from December 2012. About 2000 other people seemed to have had the same problem on this forum and the first answer apparently did not solve the problem for most customers.

I have the exact same problem with a clean installation of Windows 8. The Service Host process is consuming approximately 1 GB of RAM and practically brings the computer to a standstill. I have not installed a single piece of third-party software and the computer came with a pre-installed version of Windows 8. I have since installed the operating system twice manually, but the very same thing happens every time.

I have tried installing all Windows updates, I have tried not installing any updates. I have thrown off all the pre-installed Toshiba system software - to no avail. The suggestions other users gave here on the forum also did not work for me. All I can do is to kill the process manually and then continue working. However, at any moment Windows will automatically start the process again and it will immediately go back to its high usage of memory.

Is there any solution to this?

I do not even expect an answer from Microsoft really. But if for some reason I do get a response, please do not tell me to upgrade to Windows 10. Windows 8 is supposed to be a fully functional operating system on its own, is it not?

Hello,

Service host local system is using a lot of memory.

It can be fixed by turning of the window update service that is in the section where all services appear.

you wont be able to get any updates until you have restarted the service again.

It is best alternative if you don't upgrade  windows .

the following step should be followed:

1.Open the run window by pressing windows+R

2.type services.msc

3.click the windows update service and stop it.

4.now in the properties start-up type should be disable .

A couple of comments:

A) It is absolutely ridiculous that over 2 years and sooooo many ppl complaining that Microsoft is silent on the issue!

B) the screen shot above still shows 761M (!) of usage by just one of the Service Host processes

Microsoft - any response????????????

Why no response...because the Service Host is running just fine.  Really...why?

There is a general misunderstanding of what the Service Host does.

Take the name Host, when you go to a party the Host lets you as well as other guests in right? The "Service Host" is no different except the party house is the computer which is running and its job is to host services. Now for the most part the guests are behaved and nothing happens, but every so often a guest becomes unruly....

The Service Host (SH) is simply a conduit for applications (non-user initiated), these are applications which perform background tasks (like logging on to the internet so you can browse via a browser) or it may be a task to work with a video driver so you can see text on the page while watching a moving video. 

Since the SH is responsible for the memory, any app requesting memory falls within its realm, hence why people see differing problems, for ultimately it is the hosted application which is sucking up the memory. That is why someone says that my computer worked when I first bought it but....

You need to determine what *you* have ultimately loaded which is taking up so much memory. For you are the host of your computer, who did you let into the party?

:-)

A couple of comments:

A) It is absolutely ridiculous that over 2 years and sooooo many ppl complaining that Microsoft is silent on the issue!

B) the screen shot above still shows 761M (!) of usage by just one of the Service Host processes

Microsoft - any response????????????

"Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.  Details are included in the CBS.Log windir/Logs/CBS/CBS.log.  For example C:/Windows/Logs/CBS/CBS.log.  Note that logging is currently not supported in offline servicing scenarios."

I am almost computer illiterate, does this mean I should go look at the specified directory?  What do I do??