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The computer is a Compaq15 64-bit, running Windows 8.1. It has 2g memory and a 500gb hard drive with plenty of available space.
I'm trying to help a friend with his computer being extremely slow. The language on his computer is Spanish. He doesn't speak much computer and I don't speak much Spanish, so please bear with me.
According to Task Manager, the problem seems to be caused by a task running continually and consuming from 51 to 57% of the CPU. The task is Service Host Local System (13) this number varies from time to time but is usually in the teens. I have been working with this problem for about five days now. I think I'm safe in saying that I've tried at least 50 different fixes none of which has worked for more than a few hours and this task kicks off again. I started out thinking it was a problem only with this task kicking off for no reason because nothing was running on the computer at the time. At least nothing that I was aware of.
Last night I seemed to have it fixed because the computer ran for about four hours without the task consuming the CPU. It stayed down around 2 to 7 percent which I thought was acceptable.
Then, before giving it back to him, I decided to take a look at Windows Update through the Control Panel.
The option was set so that the updates would be automatically installed. But when I looked at the History of Installed Updates, the latest update was done in April 2018, so over a year ago. I decided that had to be wrong, so I clicked on the option to have Windows Update look for Updates. It has been running since last night and the Service Host Local System task is now back up to consuming over 50% of the CPU.
Now with that long explanation, would it be normal for Windows Update to look for updates for this long because they have not been updating properly? And would this search for updates cause the Service Host Local System task to use that much CPU?
I think he turns his laptop on only when he uses it and then turns if off. He does not leave it on all the time like I do with my laptop. MIne is on 24x7. We are on a very slow ISP so maybe the updates don't have time to download but are marked as updated on the Windows server. That's a guess of desperation on my part.
And if that is the case, how do I get all the missed updates to install? Will it all happen automatically if I leave the computer on continually for the next few days?
Thanks so much for any help and suggestions.
I'm trying to help a friend with his computer being extremely slow. The language on his computer is Spanish. He doesn't speak much computer and I don't speak much Spanish, so please bear with me.
According to Task Manager, the problem seems to be caused by a task running continually and consuming from 51 to 57% of the CPU. The task is Service Host Local System (13) this number varies from time to time but is usually in the teens. I have been working with this problem for about five days now. I think I'm safe in saying that I've tried at least 50 different fixes none of which has worked for more than a few hours and this task kicks off again. I started out thinking it was a problem only with this task kicking off for no reason because nothing was running on the computer at the time. At least nothing that I was aware of.
Last night I seemed to have it fixed because the computer ran for about four hours without the task consuming the CPU. It stayed down around 2 to 7 percent which I thought was acceptable.
Then, before giving it back to him, I decided to take a look at Windows Update through the Control Panel.
The option was set so that the updates would be automatically installed. But when I looked at the History of Installed Updates, the latest update was done in April 2018, so over a year ago. I decided that had to be wrong, so I clicked on the option to have Windows Update look for Updates. It has been running since last night and the Service Host Local System task is now back up to consuming over 50% of the CPU.
Now with that long explanation, would it be normal for Windows Update to look for updates for this long because they have not been updating properly? And would this search for updates cause the Service Host Local System task to use that much CPU?
I think he turns his laptop on only when he uses it and then turns if off. He does not leave it on all the time like I do with my laptop. MIne is on 24x7. We are on a very slow ISP so maybe the updates don't have time to download but are marked as updated on the Windows server. That's a guess of desperation on my part.
And if that is the case, how do I get all the missed updates to install? Will it all happen automatically if I leave the computer on continually for the next few days?Thanks so much for any help and suggestions.
