Let’s take a look at a typical scenario where you can encounter this issue of DST setting causes high CPU & memory usage on Windows 10. You have a computer that’s running Windows 10 to use a time zone where daylight saving time (DST) changes occur at midnight (12:00 AM) instead of at 2:00 AM. In this situation, you may experience the following issues. Issue 1The TaskHostw.exe process consumes 100 percent of CPU resources. Therefore, system performance and battery life decrease dramatically. On small form factor devices, this issue may affect thermal management, as the process keeps running in a loop doing time conversion calculations. Issue 2The pagefile consumes excessive disk resources, which triggers high disk utilization. Issue 3Excessive memory use occurs. Issue 4Excessive disk, CPU, or memory use causes the computer to hang or freeze.
Daylight Saving Time setting causes high CPU & memory usage
This issue of Daylight Saving Time (DST) setting causes high CPU & memory usage on Windows 10 occurs because of a race condition in the TaskHostW.exe process (a generic host process for Windows services) that runs one of the energy.dll scheduled tasks. This scheduled task runs according to the time that’s set on the computer. This issue occurs only on the day when DST changes. The energy.dll file is loaded when DST changes occur at midnight instead of at 2:00 AM. If you’re faced with this issue, you can try our recommended solution or workaround (per your requirement) described below to mitigate the issue. To resolve this issue, upgrade your computer to the latest version of Windows 10. If for one reason or the other, like you prefer to stay on your current Windows 10 install and not upgrade or upgrading to the latest version of Windows 10 or you’re already running the most current version of Windows 10 but the issue is not resolved you can try the workaround offered below. To work around the issue, you need to disable the Power Efficiency Diagnostics task by using one of the following methods. Let’s take a look at the description of the steps as it concerns each of the methods to resolve the DST setting causes high CPU & memory usage on Windows 10.
1] Use the Task Scheduler UI (User Interface)
To use the Task Scheduler to disable the Power Efficiency Diagnostics task, do the following:
Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.In the Run dialog, type taskschd.msc and hit Enter to open the Task Scheduler console.In the Task Scheduler console, navigate to the following:
In the middle pane, select and right-click AnalyzeSystem.Click Disable.
You can exit the Task Scheduler console. Read: How to Automatically adjust clock for Daylight Saving Time in Windows
2] Use the Command Prompt
To use the Command Prompt to disable the Power Efficiency Diagnostics task, do the following:
Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.In the Run dialog box, type cmd and then press CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER to open Command Prompt in admin/elevated mode.In the command prompt window, copy and paste the command below and hit Enter.
You can now exit the command prompt once the command executes. But, you can query the status of the task to confirm that the changes applied by running the following command: The output should appear as follows: That’s it! After completing the workaround or the solution itself, the issue of high CPU & memory usage on Windows 10 caused by Daylight Saving Time (DST) setting should be resolved.
