How to reduce CPU usage

Last updated: July 1, 2022

How to reduce CPU usage? Good question, but first what is this? CPUs are one of the most important components of a PC, they process complex instructions from computer programs and tell each component what data to deal with. For example, when playing a game, the GPU gets most of the load as directed by the CPU. This is because processing graphical workloads is what a GPU is made for, and the CPU knows this.

All this load balancing drives up the utilization of a CPU. Much like the human brain, a CPU can only “think” about so many things at once. This is the CPU usage. So it’s in our best interest to keep it as low as possible, as high CPU usage can slow down our PC when we encounter a CPU-intensive load.

We have an article What is a CPU if you want to learn more about CPUs.

What is CPU Usage?

CPU Utilization is the amount of CPU currently being used by programs on your PC. CPU utilization is usually measured as a percentage. Where 100% is total CPU capacity and 0% is no CPU. The percentage is also rounded to the nearest whole number, so it may actually show 0% utilization depending on the CPU.

How do you find your CPU usage?

CPU usage or usage can be found either in the Performance tab or the Processes tab of Task Manager. It shows up as a chart and as a percentage on the Performance tab, but only as a percentage on the Processes tab.

How to reduce CPU usage

There are a few ways we can lower CPU usage, and most of them involve reducing the load on the CPU. So this essentially means killing potentially useless tasks that are taking up too much of our CPU.

The first method involves using Task Manager to end unwanted tasks during a session.

To open Task Manager, simply right-click your Windows icon (Windows 11) or taskbar (Windows 10) and select Task Manager from the pop-up menu.

Select a process that you want to end to free up resources, either right-click and select “End Task” or select the “End Task” button at the top of the window once the process is selected.

method 2

This method is similar to the first one, only this time we stop the running processes on startup. This means that the apps we disable will not start with the system, freeing up resources.

If we repeat step one of method one, we are back in the task manager. Now go to the Home tab and click on it.

Next, select a task or program that you want to disable. Then click Disable at the top right of the window. This will prevent the program from starting when your PC does. You can reactivate it here at any time if required.

Viruses can sometimes cause your CPU usage to increase. This is because, depending on the type, viruses can use your CPU to do whatever they want. This can be anything from crypto mining to bot netting. Viruses could be your answer on how to reduce CPU usage.

Don’t worry though, your PC is already equipped with all the tools it needs to get rid of this virus if you have one.

key on your keyboard and type “Windows Security” and click on Security Center. This is the central hub from which you can perform most security-related tasks. From there, click on “Virus & Threat Protection”. Note that you can usually tell if you have a virus because the Security Center reports attention-needing for relevant icons.

scan you want to run, but for security reasons it is best to run a full scan of the system. To do this, click on the “Scan Options” drop-down bar and select “Full Scan”. This will scan your entire PC and every file in it for data that matches its virus database. If Windows Security detects a virus, it should quarantine and delete it.

Check your power settings (laptop)

This mainly applies to laptops, but it can also apply to desktops. To save energy, a power saving setting can be set to limit your PC’s performance. If your PC limits your CPU power, it will end up being maxed out faster because it has less processing power.

This mainly applies to laptops, but it can also apply to desktops. To save energy, a power saving setting can be set to limit your PC’s performance. If your PC limits your CPU power, it will end up being maxed out faster because it has less processing power.

First, open your search bar, type “choose a power plan” and press Enter. This should take you to the Power Options in the Control Panel.

You must select the power plan that specifies the highest performance, High Performance is a good starting point, but you can use Balanced if your PC does not come with a high performance power plan. This should unlock your CPU performance limit.

This is less of a step and more of advice. If you want to upgrade your CPU performance so that it is not easily exhausted, you should consider buying a better processor. This can either be a faster processor in a newer generation with a higher IPC, or a CPU with more cores and threads to distribute the workload between them.

However, note that upgrading Intel CPUs to newer generation CPUs often requires a motherboard upgrade. Please check CPU socket compatibility before purchasing. We recommend the following CPUs from AMD and Intel.

Upgrade your CPU/motherboard

This is less of a step and more of advice. If you want to upgrade your CPU performance so that it is not easily exhausted, you should consider buying a better processor. This can either be a faster processor in a newer generation with a higher IPC, or a CPU with more cores and threads to distribute the workload between them.

However, note that upgrading Intel CPUs to newer generation CPUs often requires a motherboard upgrade. Please check CPU socket compatibility before purchasing. We recommend the following CPUs from AMD and Intel.

CPUs you could never fully utilize

If you happen to be in the market for a new CPU, those CPUs have such a high number of cores, threads, and transistors that you probably wouldn’t be able to use them 100%. Definitely not in normal use.

Last word

High CPU usage is something that every PC user encounters at some point, whether you know it or not. It’s a good idea to check your CPU from time to time just to see how things are going. If your CPU usage is high and you don’t know what is causing it, try some of our methods above to fix the situation.

We hope our article on how to reduce CPU usage helped you solve your problem.