As it’s always the case, with a new Windows update come new bugs. Just recently, Microsoft released a cumulative update on August 30 named KB4512941 which has started causing major CPU spikes with abnormally high usage. Many Windows users are facing this issue particularly after installing the KB4512941 update. So, if you are one of those affected users and looking for a solution, you have come to the right place. Here, we have provided two simple ways to fix the high CPU usage that is occurring after the Windows 10 KB4512941 update. Both the methods are easy and straightforward so no worries there. Now without further ado, let’s go through the steps.

Before we fix the issue, let’s first understand what is causing the CPU to spike abnormally. With the KB4512941 update, Windows integrated Cortana with SearchUI.exe system-wide. As a result, Cortana keeps running in the background, eating too much system resources and causing the CPU spike. Now that we have run through the cause, let’s fix the problem. There are two easy ways to resolve the high CPU Usage on the latest Windows 10. Either, we can uninstall the KB4512941 update altogether or replace Cortana search with Bing Search. At first, we will go through the first method and then will move to the second method. Now having said that, here is how to do it.

Uninstall KB4512941 Update

  1. Open Windows Settings or simply press Windows + I shortcut to open it. After that, open Update and Security.

  2. Here, click on “View Update History”.

Here, we will use Windows Registry to disable Cortana Search and replace it with Bing Search. The good part is that you will still be on the latest Windows 10 build, but without any performance issues. Here are the simple steps to follow.

  1. Press the Windows key once and type Regedit. It will show up on the top. Open it.