Laptop CPU is maxing out when hardly anything is open

Sharyn Bartlem 0 Reputation points
2026-03-16T00:04:02.1666667+00:00

Hi guys. I'm desperate for ideas please.

I'm having an issue with my employer-provided laptop that my employer's tech people can't figure out after 6 months.

At about midday (+/- an hour) each day, the CPU suddenly fluctuates between about 70-96%, making the laptop literally unusable.

  • If I'm on a teams call, people say my audio sounds robotic or like I'm under water & my vision is delayed by 6-10 second.
  • Mouse & keyboard are also delayed & if I click on something, it is clicking where I was 6-10 seconds ago.

It first started happening 6 months ago after we were given new laptops after some type of system upgrade. That laptop was rebuilt twice but kept having the same issues.

Therefore, I was given a new laptop, but it's had the same issue from the day I got it, even after being rebuilt, so it feels like this isn't a hardware issue.

Our tech people are suggesting that I try another new laptop with higher specs but given that hardly anything is open when I'm having issues, I'm not sure that is going to work - unless there is a program in the background that doesn't show on my Task Manager but uses CPU.

This happens even if I have literally nothing open. If I close everything down, it doesn't help. When I look at the Task Manager, the programs using CPU are typically Teams, Edge, the Task Manager and some antivirus/security types of programs. If I add up what each individual process is using use, it never gets close to the total CPU usage so something must be using it in the background. Our tech area can see that CPU usage is high but can't tell what is using it - at first, they thought it was antivirus software but nothing they try is working.

If I check my personal laptop at the same time, I can open/use tons of programs without dramas and the internet connection test comes up normal. I don't know much about specs, but when I compare my work v personal laptop, the work laptop seems similar/better than my personal PC, except for the processor which is 2.7GHz while mine is 3.24GHz.

Any thoughts that I can relay to my work tech person to consider would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | Performance | Windows desktop and shell experience

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Harry Phan 28,050 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-03-16T01:11:56.2733333+00:00

    Hi Sharyn,

    "I can't use 'admin' access to do anything" => this detail makes sense and actually reinforces the point that this isn’t something you can fix yourself without admin rights. The fact that your IT team has already been screen‑sharing and still can’t see the culprit in Task Manager suggests the load is coming from a kernel driver or a scheduled system task that doesn’t show up in user‑mode tools. What they need to do is capture a performance trace with Windows Performance Recorder or xperf during the spike and then analyze it in Windows Performance Analyzer. That will expose the exact thread or driver consuming CPU. Without that trace, they’re guessing.

    Since you can’t run those tools, the best way forward is to ask them to check Task Scheduler for recurring jobs around noon, especially under \Microsoft\Windows\Defender and telemetry tasks, and to verify whether endpoint security agents are configured to run scans at that time. If the trace confirms it’s Defender or another agent, the supported fix is to adjust the scan schedule via Group Policy or the vendor’s management console. If it points to kernel time in ntoskrnl.exe without a clear process, then they should investigate memory stability and disk I/O from encryption or DLP agents. The key is: don’t swap hardware again, insist on a proper performance trace so they can stop chasing shadows.

    I hope it's helpful to you. Have a nice day!

    Harry.

    Was this answer helpful?

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.