svchost using 50% CPU all the time in background

I just had one of the strangest bugs in XP. All of a sudden, svchost started using 50% of my CPU constantly in the background. It persisted regardless of how many times I restarted the system.

The fix I found was from here:

https://askleo.com/how_do_i_fix_this_high_cpu_usage_svchost_virus_or_whatever_it_is/


What I did to resolve the problem:


1. Turn off automatic updates

2. Opened the cmd and entered: sc config wuauserv type= own

3. Reboot.

 

I keep auto updates disabled, but every now and then I run a custom scan at microsoft updates for any updates to office 2007 and/or 2010, I have office 2003 installed and microsoft offers compatability updates,

you do know that process explorer will show what is under svchost.exe

I have version 16.4 which will run on xp uploaded to my one drive , in my folder Public Files:

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=D7389B68B3A275AD!834&cid=D7389B68B3A275AD

 

Yup. That is what I did to diagnose the problem: I found 14 different services under one particular svchost instance. This conflicting use of resources was probably what caused windows update to use 50% of the cpu. The solution posted above was to split the services, let windows update have its own svchost process... And yes, though XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, the reason I kept automatic update on was to get updates for Office 2007

 

I had this happen to me too before, but it wasn't on XP.