Dwm.exe starts consuming lots of CPU when machine is idle

Since doing a fresh install of Windows 8 Pro RTM x64 English on my Sony Vaio Z21 laptop, I've been bothered by a sudden increase in fan noise whenever I leave the machine idle for a while and the displays are turned off. Finally decided to try and get to the bottom of it today, so I ran the Performance Recorder with the CPU usage profile enabled and brought up the relevant graphs in Performance Analyzer. See the below screen shot for the results.

I started the trace and then left the machine alone for a while to trigger the idle behavior. It's pretty clear that Dwm.exe is the main culprit. As to why this process would find anything useful to do when all the displays are turned off is beyond me. Also Outlook.exe sees a significant increase of CPU usage during the same time period. Whether these two are somehow related, I have no clue. Please note that I've disabled all other processes in the graph for clarity; no other processes showed any visible increase during the trace.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

August 26th, 2012 6:47pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

  • Marked as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:07 PM
  • Unmarked as answer by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:57 PM
  • Edited by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:03 PM Now running Office 2013 RTM.
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August 26th, 2012 8:07pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

August 26th, 2012 11:07pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

  • Marked as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:07 PM
  • Unmarked as answer by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:57 PM
  • Edited by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:03 PM Now running Office 2013 RTM.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 26th, 2012 11:07pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

  • Marked as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:07 PM
  • Unmarked as answer by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:57 PM
  • Edited by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:03 PM Now running Office 2013 RTM.
August 26th, 2012 11:07pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

  • Marked as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:07 PM
  • Unmarked as answer by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:57 PM
  • Edited by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:03 PM Now running Office 2013 RTM.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 26th, 2012 11:07pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

  • Marked as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:07 PM
  • Unmarked as answer by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:57 PM
  • Edited by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:03 PM Now running Office 2013 RTM.
August 26th, 2012 11:07pm

So I shut down Outlook and lo and behold, the CPU usage increase is no more.

I am now using the exact same setup except with Office 2013 RTM, and the problem still persists.

The Performance Analyzer chart looks nearly identical. We can probably therefore rule out the fact that Outlook was previously in preview version as the cause of this issue.

(I will post a link to the trace file here once it finishes uploading to Dropbox.)

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

  • Marked as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:07 PM
  • Unmarked as answer by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:57 PM
  • Edited by Daniel Stolt Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:03 PM Now running Office 2013 RTM.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 26th, 2012 11:07pm

I suggest using Office 2010 and use a VM for testing beta packages etc

2010 works fine with windows 8

August 26th, 2012 11:35pm

Hello. Sorry for I'm not good English writer, but I had the same issue. DWM.exe kept consuming a lot of CPU % while display is turned off.

To inspect what the cause is, I re-installed Windows8, and could detect the cause. In my case, it was logicool's software Setpoint version 6.50.152.

Just turning the software off, the issue no more occurs so far. If you are using same software, my post will do.

I uninstalled Setpoint and will wait for the new version with the issue resolved.

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November 1st, 2012 4:29am

Thanks for the suggestion Jitojun, but I don't have that particular piece of software installed.
November 1st, 2012 4:11pm

try a clean install and see how it performs, then install programs one by one until the issue emerges, this is the only way to figure out the problem deterministically

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November 1st, 2012 4:13pm

No offense Vegan but your answers aren't very helpful.

Your first comment regarding pre-release software, you should keep in mind that reporting these kinds of problems IS one of the main reasons for running pre-release software in the first place. Besides, it's almost impossible to run any machine completely clean of some form of pre-release software these days, in this age of perpetual betas etc.

Your second comment about a reinstall, not all of us can repave our machines every day. Secondly, this was actually a completely clean install with only Windows and Office when I first reported the issue above. Thirdly, I don't believe that's the only deterministic way at all, that's why we have tools such as Perf Recorder and Analyzer.

Please feel free to not propose your comments as answers unless they can actually help me solve my problem (and no, reinstall is not a solution).


November 1st, 2012 4:51pm

I have been using 8 since I got it back in August and I have tested every game I own, took weeks and weeks, but I got it done

I used a small 80 gb disk as it was handy and it is enough to do the tests, I used my MB to use that disk for boot so I could test all day long without the need to use the primary disk

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November 1st, 2012 4:55pm

Zip the ETL and upload it, I'll take a look at it.
November 1st, 2012 7:21pm

Much appreciated, Andre! You will find the ETL and related files here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/dkk0utg28j4k434/GKMzjcknH0

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November 1st, 2012 7:28pm

8GB? Use this command:

xperf -on latency+ReferenceSet -stackwalk profile+VirtualAlloc+VirtualFree -buffersize 1024 -MaxFile 512 -FileMode Circular && timeout -1 && xperf -d DWM_CPU_memory.etl

it limits the filesize to 512MB. Next compress the ETL as 7z (ULTRA, LZMA2) to recude the size.
November 1st, 2012 7:35pm

The thing is, if I limit to 512MB it probably won't contain the relevant events, as this thing doesn't occur until 10 minutes after I stop touching the machine. I will however compress the file. It's going to take a while to compress and upload it to Dropbox, I'll ping back when it's done!
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November 1st, 2012 7:43pm

with filemode Circular, xperf override the old useless data. So after you captured the issue, stop it and the I have all data I need
November 1st, 2012 7:49pm

Good point Andre. Allright, I'll make a new trace tonight (that particular computer is at my home) and upload it. In the mean time, in case you want it, you should now find the compressed ETL.zip in the same folder, it's only 900MB now so download should be easier.
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November 1st, 2012 8:10pm

@Daniel and @Andre awaiting for you to get to the conclusion. I also have this issue for many days. But I overlooked it. I initially used Turn Off LCD for turning of the LCD of my laptop when I put it to some big process (creating sys image) just to save power, but soon I realized that while am saving my LCD power my CPU starts taking it :p, now I realized that the same occurs when display deems after 5 min.

In my case also dwm.exe is the culprit as anyone can see in this snapshot:

I am running Windows 8 Release Preview.

November 1st, 2012 10:52pm

Good point Andre. Allright, I'll make a new trace tonight (that particular computer is at my home) and upload it. In the mean time, in case you want it, you should now find the compressed ETL.zip in the same folder, it's only 900MB now so download should
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November 2nd, 2012 1:14am

Do the same. Look for Debug calls with DebugView and post them here.
November 2nd, 2012 1:15am

Andre,

You will now find a DebugView log in the same folder! Can you make sense of it?

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November 7th, 2012 1:55am

Can you make se
November 7th, 2012 7:47pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:53 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
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November 21st, 2012 3:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

November 21st, 2012 6:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:53 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 21st, 2012 6:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:53 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
November 21st, 2012 6:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:53 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 21st, 2012 6:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:53 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
November 21st, 2012 6:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:53 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 21st, 2012 6:29pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:52 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
November 21st, 2012 8:36pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 21st, 2012 11:36pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:52 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
November 21st, 2012 11:36pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:52 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 21st, 2012 11:36pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:52 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
November 21st, 2012 11:36pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:52 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 21st, 2012 11:36pm

Hello JITOJUN,

 I had the same issue, and this problem has been solved.

I change the setpoint installed version 6.32

You can try it

had the dwm.exe cpu problem. Installing setpoint 6.32 instead of setpoint 6.50 seems to have fixed my problem.
  • Proposed as answer by Alex131089 Saturday, May 04, 2013 10:52 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, May 04, 2013 11:39 AM
November 21st, 2012 11:36pm

seems that the drivers might be at issue

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November 21st, 2012 11:42pm

This thread has shed a lot of light on the situation that I've faced for a while. I never bothered looking into until this morning when I figured that at some point my CPU or fan might just explode from being so 'idly active'.

I am not running Logicool Setpoint (as far as I know), and am running Outlook 2013 on Win8. Aside from shutting down Outlook each time I plan to step away from the PC, are there any other known solutions? (aside from modifying power settings to never dim, or shut the HD, etc)

November 22nd, 2012 4:33pm

check the BIOS/UEFI for power settings and make sure everything is enabled

AMD calls it cool and quiet while intel calls its advanced speed step

AMD also has C1 which should also be enabled, but I found an error on my M2NBP-VM CSM motherboard when that was enabled. That caused my system to run a very slow rate.

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November 22nd, 2012 4:41pm

Hello FCMoses,

Do you have installed antivirus software? or using Windows Defender?

I use Windows Defender , the computer idle time to do a lot of jobs.

Even if you close the Task Scheduler, Still the same..

You can turn it off, try it..

November 27th, 2012 5:47am

there is no need for a 3rd party security program, windows defender in 8 is upgraded to be the same as MSE on xp vista and 7

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November 27th, 2012 2:41pm

Yes, i know windows defender in 8 is upgraded to be the same as MSE on xp vista and 7.

but my NOTEBOOK use SSD, I don't want SSD over scanning...

so I change use 3rd party security...

November 28th, 2012 4:18am

I suspect most of the disk access is simple read operations as startup programs launch.

Depending on your software stack some background tasks may be running.

Go to my IT site and grab appwiz and post the results to this thread

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November 28th, 2012 4:25am

Same cpu consumption problem with dwm.exe.

Had uninstalled setpoint 6.51 (latest build) and solved (fan noise was very annoying !!)

December 23rd, 2012 10:48am

i just replaced some of the fans in my gaming rig and these new ball bearing ones are a lot better than those cheap brushless (sleeve) ones

new ones are 23 db vs 34 for the cheap ones

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December 23rd, 2012 5:38pm

Just wanted to say thanks for this suggestion, been having the exact same problem on my vaio z1 and this worked for me also
December 30th, 2012 6:15am

This thread has shed a lot of light on the situation that I've faced for a while. I never bothered looking into until this morning when I figured that at some point my CPU or fan might just explode from being so 'idly active'.

I am not running Logicool Setpoint (as far as I know), and am running Outlook 2013 on Win8. Aside from shutting down Outlook each time I plan to step away from the PC, are there any other known solutions? (aside from modifying power settings to never dim, or shut the HD, etc)

FCMoses, seems you and I are in the exact same situation. No SetPoint here either. Like you, the only workaround I've found is to shut down Outlook whenever I walk away. Have you found anything?

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December 30th, 2012 7:05am

Just wanted to say thanks for this suggestion, been having the exact same problem on my vaio z1 and this worked for me also
Which one worked for you? Remove SetPoint?
December 30th, 2012 7:06am

I'm having the same problem with DWM.EXE consuming the CPU while by system is idle.  This is a fresh build with no AV or Setpoint software.  I guess there has been no new information gleaned about this issue?  I can collect an xperf trace as well...
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January 24th, 2013 3:43am

also look at the issue with xperf, open the files in the viewer and look at the callstack. Do you also see those Debug calls?
January 24th, 2013 4:27pm

So far, no repro after booting with DisablePagingExecutive=1.  But it should come back as it has happened several times but it's obviously not consistent.

When I get the trace, I will review and post the info.

Please standby...

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January 24th, 2013 7:00pm

Well, still no repro even after setting DisablePagingExecutive back to 0.  I did also receive a video driver update since I posted.  So, my guess is that the CPU time in DWM.EXE was most likley being driven by a video driver module.  I guess I could have assumed that as a likely candidate before but I personally like to see the data first.  That said, dont think I'll roll the driver back for another repro attempt!  :P
February 7th, 2013 6:20pm

video drivers operate at lower level in the software stack than the desktop windows manager

if you want better help, post machine specs

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February 7th, 2013 10:19pm

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
April 5th, 2013 11:45pm

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
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April 6th, 2013 2:45am

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
April 6th, 2013 2:45am

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
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April 6th, 2013 2:45am

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
April 6th, 2013 2:45am

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
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April 6th, 2013 2:45am

Did you ever have any luck finding a resolution to this?  I'm running on a clean install of Win 8 Pro with the most recent updates and Outlook 2013 installed, no Setpoint installed, and I see the same issue.  When the computer goes idle with Outlook open, dwm.exe goes bonkers and drives my CPU fans crazy.  As soon as I bring the computer out of idle, CPU usage goes back down to normal.  If I close Outlook first, no high CPU while it's idle.  I'm running an i5 4-way with 16 gigs of RAM, an ATI Radeon HD 5450.  I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.
April 6th, 2013 2:45am

 I had the issue with both the generic ATI drivers from Windows Update as well as the more recent 13.1 version available from the ATI site.

we never found a solution. Try the 13.3 Beta driver:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/AMDCatalyst13-3WINBetaDriver.aspx

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April 6th, 2013 10:32am

No solution as of yet I'm afraid. I am still having the issue. I'm just getting better at closing down Outlook when I leave the machine. :(

What I don't get is - WHY OUTLOOK? I would understand if this was an issue with bad video drivers, but why specifically in combination with Outlook?

April 6th, 2013 10:35pm

No solution as of yet I'm afraid. I am still having the issue. I'm just getting better at closing down Outlook when I leave the machine. :(

What I don't get is - WHY OUTLOOK? I would understand if this was an issue with bad video drivers, but why specifically in combination with Ou

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April 6th, 2013 10:47pm

Hi,

Just found this thread... I am having the same problem in my laptop with NVidia GPU. As some others in the thread had AMD HW this does not seem like display driver issue.

I also have tried to trace the problem with xperf. At least in my case some Outlook and DWM threads end up repeating same IPC pattern every 100 us or so... I can provide the ETL files if they are of any help.

April 8th, 2013 10:20pm

have you looked into the etl file? Do you also see this Dx Debug calls?
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April 9th, 2013 7:34am

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

  • Proposed as answer by Robert Pivac Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:12 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:20 PM
April 10th, 2013 7:31pm

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

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April 10th, 2013 10:31pm

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

  • Proposed as answer by Robert Pivac Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:12 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:20 PM
April 10th, 2013 10:31pm

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

  • Proposed as answer by Robert Pivac Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:12 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:20 PM
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April 10th, 2013 10:31pm

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

  • Proposed as answer by Robert Pivac Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:12 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:20 PM
April 10th, 2013 10:31pm

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

  • Proposed as answer by Robert Pivac Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:12 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:20 PM
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April 10th, 2013 10:31pm

I do see some DxDebug calls done by DWM.exe in the sampled stacks but I am not sure what to think about those.

Basically the pattern that is repeated is quite clear from the scheduler traces:

  • Outlook tries to draw something and after that it calls DwmFlush. This keeps 2 CPU cores busy (as the D3D user mode driver executes in another thread)
  • DWM is woken up (third core busy). Based on stack traces it tries to compose a screen image but responds back to outlook in about 100 us - I assume that it just returns some error but cannot tell for sure

After that Outlook tries the same again

It is pretty understandable that the fans are spinning at high speed as 3 cores are looping busily. But I have no idea why Outlook so desperately tries to update the screen again and again...

  • Proposed as answer by Robert Pivac Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:12 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Sunday, April 14, 2013 3:20 PM
April 10th, 2013 10:31pm

I have Windows 7 running 24/7 and Windows 8 running 24/7 and over time the desktop windows manager will accumulate more CPU time than most other tasks

this is due especially with 8 more to do with the way apps are designed, they are updating their respective panels as time progresses

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April 14th, 2013 6:17pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

April 17th, 2013 7:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

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April 17th, 2013 10:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

  • Proposed as answer by Mikey Cooper Saturday, April 27, 2013 9:42 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by Daniel Stolt Saturday, April 27, 2013 9:45 AM
  • Proposed as answer by Abram Detofsky Sunday, July 28, 2013 8:27 PM
April 17th, 2013 10:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

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April 17th, 2013 10:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

April 17th, 2013 10:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

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April 17th, 2013 10:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

April 17th, 2013 10:55am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

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April 17th, 2013 10:55am

I have also experienced this issue running Windows 8 on a Macbook Pro with NVidia GPU and latest drivers while Outlook is open.

If Outlook is running and the monitor goes into sleep mode, the computer heats up and fan noise becomes unbearable. 

I have just disabled hardware acceleration as Dennis suggested and will see if that helps resolve it. 

April 17th, 2013 11:36am

Am having exactly the same problem - driving me nuts! What could  dwm.exe be doing when the PC is supposed to be idle and the screen is off?
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April 18th, 2013 11:47am

Microsoft just announced Office 2010 SP2 Beta which is on Connect now and includes the usual performance and stability improvements.

I installed it and haven't had the issue re-occur yet, however it is too early to tell whether it is resolved.

April 18th, 2013 11:53am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
  • Edited by SimonZim Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:51 PM
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April 18th, 2013 12:45pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
April 18th, 2013 3:45pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
  • Edited by SimonZim Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:51 PM
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April 18th, 2013 3:45pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
  • Edited by SimonZim Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:51 PM
April 18th, 2013 3:45pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
  • Edited by SimonZim Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:51 PM
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April 18th, 2013 3:45pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
  • Edited by SimonZim Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:51 PM
April 18th, 2013 3:45pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
  • Edited by SimonZim Thursday, April 18, 2013 12:51 PM
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April 18th, 2013 3:45pm

I have been looking into the problem myself and found that disabling skydrive would actually solve the problem. I also have Setpoint, tried with that 1st and it didn't have any effect.

I use Win8Pro and Office 2013 both final and updated versions.

Hope this helps.

April 20th, 2013 11:26am

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Tried disabling hardware acceleration in Outlook (2013) and had no effect I'm afraid...
I also tried this, and the issue remains unfortunately.
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April 20th, 2013 1:16pm

I have been looking into the problem myself and found that disabling skydrive would actually solve the problem. I also have Setpoint, tried with that 1st and it didn't have any effect.

I use Win8Pro and Office 2013 both final and updated versions.

Hope this helps.

Interesting - by disabling, what do you mean specifically? Do you mean shut down the Skydrive application?

I tried shutting down the Skydrive application completely, but this has no effect - issue remains.

April 20th, 2013 1:16pm

I have also experienced this issue running Windows 8 on a Macbook Pro with NVidia GPU and latest drivers while Outlook is open.

If Outlook is running and the monitor goes into sleep mode, the computer heats up and fan noise becomes unbearable. 

I have just disabled hardware acceleration as Dennis suggested and will see if that helps resolve it. 


I experience this on a MacBook Pro as well. I don't have Outlook 2013, but I do run Word/PowerPoint/OneNote/Excel. I will try closing them before going idle and see what happens.
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April 23rd, 2013 5:36pm

We experienced a similar issue on some new Lenovo X1 Carbon laptops this week - DWM and Outlook would take up CPU time while the PC idled. We updated the Intel video driver and disabled hardware acceleration in Outlook (Options, Advanced, under display). Hope this helps someone :)

Updating my ATI drivers to the latest version, just released this week, didn't resolve the issue.  However, disabling hardware graphics acceleration in Outlook seems to have taken care of it for me.  I haven't had the high CPU issue in a few days now, other than when I turn the option back on to test if it's causing it.  Thanks!
April 27th, 2013 12:42pm

I'm happy disabling hardware acceleration fixed the issue for you, Mikey! However, since I am the op, and his suggestion, while very helpful, didn't solve the issue for me, I'm taking the liberty of unproposing Dennis' reply as an answer.
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April 27th, 2013 12:50pm

my MS contacts are busy, so contact the MS support directly and open a case so that you get better help.
April 27th, 2013 4:30pm

Daniel, I was actually heading back here to unpropose it as an answer myself.  Naturally, the day after I post that, the issue rears its head again.  With hardware graphics acceleration disabled, it is now outlook.exe that's pegged at 100% CPU instead of dwm.exe (which makes sense, I guess).  I either never noticed it before because I was only looking for dwm.exe or because it just coincidentally never occurred once I switched it off.  Back to closing Outlook every time I walk away from the computer, I guess.
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April 28th, 2013 10:40pm

I guess someone really ought to file a support case for this, so we can get a hotfix started. Anyone have a support agreement?
April 29th, 2013 11:24am

I thought I'd post my findings. I'm no techie-expert, just so you know.

I think it's something to do with 3rd party security products.

I'd installed Avast (free) ages ago and just on spec I uninstalled it and switched Defender back on (not easy, I'll have you know). Problem went away completely.

Installed AVG (free) and the problem returned, only it was Outlook.exe consuming all the power, not DWM.exe as had previously been the case.

Uninstalled AVG and the problem had, once again, miraculously disappeared. 

Hope this helps someone find a solution, because I hate having to rely on the worst security product on the planet (Defender) for my protection.

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May 3rd, 2013 11:44am

Unfortunately, I am only using Defender however it is still occurring.

I have seemed to notice it only occurs after the computer has been switched on for a while. If you shutdown every night, it doesn't seem to occur during the day. Maybe over time this problem grows?

May 3rd, 2013 11:49am

I don't think it has anything to do with any security software, as I have neihter.
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May 3rd, 2013 12:38pm

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
  • Edited by SimonZim Saturday, May 04, 2013 5:36 AM
May 4th, 2013 5:31am

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
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May 4th, 2013 8:31am

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
  • Edited by SimonZim Saturday, May 04, 2013 5:36 AM
May 4th, 2013 8:31am

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
  • Edited by SimonZim Saturday, May 04, 2013 5:36 AM
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May 4th, 2013 8:31am

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
  • Edited by SimonZim Saturday, May 04, 2013 5:36 AM
May 4th, 2013 8:31am

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
  • Edited by SimonZim Saturday, May 04, 2013 5:36 AM
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May 4th, 2013 8:31am

Sorry. I was talking total rubbish. Found my PC racing hot with Outlook running @50% last night, and I now have only Defender too...sorry for the confusion.
  • Edited by SimonZim Saturday, May 04, 2013 5:36 AM
May 4th, 2013 8:31am

Again, unproposing answers. Several of us don't even have Setpoint installed.
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May 4th, 2013 2:41pm

I too have the same problem.  I recently rebuilt the offending computer with the Windows 8 restore and the problem came back.  I determined if you change the display to always stay on the problem doesn't occur.  It is an old trick for programs to detect that the display has shut itself off and use this to imply that the user isn't doing anything and it is safe to do some CPU intensive maintenance work.  Whatever Outlook decides to do it never gets finished because it goes into this state forever.  This problem is a real disaster on a Surface Pro running on battery.  On the Surface don't leave Outlook running and on desktops set the display to always stay.
May 8th, 2013 9:38pm

I just thought i'd add to this thread:

I have similar issues as OP, however I have setpoint. Exiting setpoint decreases the CPU usage of DWM, however it still about half as loud as compared to resuming the display.

I think it's worth adding that when I use RDP from my tablet to connect to my laptop, the CPU issue goes away whilst the connection is going, and when terminated. However when I re-log on the laptop once again, the issue resumes.

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May 26th, 2013 9:43am

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


  • Edited by jed101 Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM spelling
June 6th, 2013 12:28pm

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


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June 6th, 2013 3:28pm

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


  • Edited by jed101 Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM spelling
June 6th, 2013 3:28pm

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


  • Edited by jed101 Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM spelling
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June 6th, 2013 3:28pm

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


  • Edited by jed101 Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM spelling
June 6th, 2013 3:28pm

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


  • Edited by jed101 Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM spelling
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June 6th, 2013 3:28pm

Not sure if this is the same issue but it looked like dwm.exe was hogging my laptop cpu - huge fan noise even on idle with no apps running.

However, I ended the explorer.exe process via task manager and my cpu stabilised. Of course, the windows desktop shuts down but the task manager window remains open and the effect can be seen immediately. I then restored explorer.exe with the task manager File option.

More web research suggested deleting the contents of the C:/Windows/Temp file to stabilise explorer.exe - which I did.

After ending and restarting explorer.exe via task manager once again my cpu has now stabilised.

Hope this is of help to someone.


  • Edited by jed101 Thursday, June 06, 2013 12:29 PM spelling
June 6th, 2013 3:28pm

if you cpu is hot, check to make sure cooling ports and fins are free of obstruction

if the thermal interface material is compromised it can also be repaired but mobile machines are a lot of work to disassemble

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June 6th, 2013 3:38pm

See my suggestion just above.
June 6th, 2013 4:50pm

Has anyone had any success in resolving this?  I was hoping that the Outlook team would have published a hotfix by now.  Also, jed101 - opening task manager to kill explorer suggests that you're no longer in a sleep state, so outlook would exit the bad state it enters (at least for me, exiting sleep causes the problem to go away).

Is there anything we can do to get some more attention for this?  

(My details: Logitech mouse / keyboard (but no setpoint installed), Outlook 2013, nvidia GPU, Windows 8 Pro).  Also, I'm curious if anyone else has the Gmail Calendar Sync Add in installed - it has issues when outlook is closed (prompts for profile even if you only have one profile), and regularly runs the sync process - perhaps it causes the issue?

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June 13th, 2013 8:28am

Also, I'm curious if anyone else has the Gmail Calendar Sync Add in installed - it has issues when outlook is closed (prompts for profile even if you only have one profile), and regularly runs the sync process - perhaps it causes the issue?

I don't have the Gmail Calendar Sync add-in. In fact I have tried this on a completely fresh install with only Windows 8, Office 2013 and automatically downloaded drivers. Issue is alive and well.

June 13th, 2013 10:55pm

Also, I'm curious if anyone else has the Gmail Calendar Sync Add in installed - it has issues when outlook is closed (prompts for profile even if you only have one profile), and regularly runs the sync process - perhaps it causes the issue?

I don't have the Gmail Calendar Sync add-in. In fact I have tried this on a completely fresh install with only Windows 8, Office 2013 and automatically downloaded drivers. Issue is alive and

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June 13th, 2013 11:02pm

this suggests a driver may be at fault

I completely disagree. Rather, it suggests that Outlook is at fault, because

a) no other piece of software causes the issue and

b) issue arises for a wide variety of hardware configs and

c) issue arises for a variety of driver configs for the same hardware (e.g. Windows Update WHQL drivers vs. Nvidia drivers etc).

June 13th, 2013 11:05pm

I have not used Outlook much as Live Mail is more useful for my needs

I do know Outlook is relatively big on resources

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June 13th, 2013 11:19pm

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


  • Edited by misiek_to_ja Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:43 AM Update
June 30th, 2013 11:22am

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


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June 30th, 2013 2:22pm

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


  • Edited by misiek_to_ja Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:43 AM Update
June 30th, 2013 2:22pm

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


  • Edited by misiek_to_ja Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:43 AM Update
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June 30th, 2013 2:22pm

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


  • Edited by misiek_to_ja Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:43 AM Update
June 30th, 2013 2:22pm

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


  • Edited by misiek_to_ja Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:43 AM Update
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June 30th, 2013 2:22pm

Hi there,

I also have the same issue on freshly installed Windows 8 on two different laptops. No other software besides Office 2013. Very often if the screen turns off Process Explorer reports increased CPU usage coming from dwm.exe process. And it happens only if Outlook is running in the background. If I close it then the issue is gone, so for me it is clearly Outlook 2013 issue. I tried all the proposed solutions in this thread with no luck. I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.


  • Edited by misiek_to_ja Sunday, June 30, 2013 11:43 AM Update
June 30th, 2013 2:22pm

it would be very useful to me to see the vendors web page for the specific machine being considered

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June 30th, 2013 3:57pm

@misiek_to_ja: That's the exact symptoms indeed. Kudos for taking action and contacting support - let us know how the case progresses!

@Vegan Fanatic: I've tried to be polite but I've had it. If I had the ability to evict or ban you from this thread, I would. All you do is litter this thread with irrelevant and seemingly arbitrary comments. I believe I speak for most when I say your participation here is neither helpful nor wanted - please go find some other forum to harrass, or at least stop spamming this thread with your garbage. How you ever secured even one MVP is utterly beyond me. I think your time would be better spent climbing Ev

June 30th, 2013 8:18pm

Vegan is the forum troll who replies to all topics, spams them with useless comment about things he doesn't understand.

I submitted feedback about him to MSFT fo years, but they think he is "genuine and mostly helpful" (quote from MSFT). We both know this isn't true. Ignore him. I already posted a feature request to have an ignore lost to not show the posts of ignored users. Maybe someday MS implements this, so that we can hide his spam.

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June 30th, 2013 9:20pm

 I will create support request today, because too many people reported it and it should be fixed by now.
ok, please post the status of the issue so that others know what happens and if MS has plans to fix this :)
June 30th, 2013 9:22pm

@misiek_to_ja

Thanks for creating a support request for the issue.  Have you heard anything back yet?

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July 9th, 2013 10:15pm

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


July 16th, 2013 12:15am

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


  • Edited by J Fox J Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:14 AM formatting
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July 16th, 2013 4:13am

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


  • Edited by J Fox J Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:14 AM formatting
July 16th, 2013 7:13am

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


  • Edited by J Fox J Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:14 AM formatting
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July 16th, 2013 7:13am

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


  • Edited by J Fox J Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:14 AM formatting
July 16th, 2013 7:13am

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


  • Edited by J Fox J Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:14 AM formatting
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July 16th, 2013 7:13am

I'm seeing similar characteristics as some others in this thread:

- The issue occurs when the system is idle AND the power management puts my displays on standby.

- Modifying my power management settings so that the display is NEVER put on standby causes the issue to go away.  (The system will not show unusual CPU activity even after sitting idle for some time.)

- When the issue occurs, dwm.exe shows some CPU activity.  dwm.exe's activity averages around 25%.  Several other applications show CPU activity as well.  Each individual application's activity averages less than 25% (so dwm.exe's activity is the most visible during this issue), but the total CPU activity adds up to around 60-75%.  The unusual CPU activity ceases when the monitor wakes up from standby.

Do others participating in this thread observe that the issue goes away if they modify their power management settings so that their monitor is never allowed to go to standby?  I understand that this isn't a viable "solution" for most people, but I'd like to know if everyone else shares that same observation.

I have a question (and appreciation!) for the persons genuinely contributing to this thread:  Do you see any unusual CPU activity occur in any other applications when this issue occurs?  For example, do you see a small amount of activity in explorer.exe?

I ask this because I've watched the CPU graphs for several individual processes which happen to be running on my system.  (I've been leaving several process property windows open in Process Explorer to monitor individual process performance.  It's a kludgy method but it works.)  Processes such as skype.exe, steam.exe, procmon.exe (Process Monitor), and taskmgr.exe each nibble at the CPU when the problem occurs.  The effect is subtle but noticeable.  The CPU nibbling for these applications disappears when the monitor wakes-up from standby.

I've also noticed that there is slightly less overall CPU consumption if all application windows are minimized when the issue occurs.  In the case of steam.exe, the unusual CPU consumption all but disappears when it is minimized.

I believe Harri Kaimio's post has been the closest thing I've seen posted to a technical explanation for the issue.  It seems (?) that certain applications are attempting to draw something, but they are somehow blocked or otherwise unable to do so when the monitor is on standby.  dwm.exe plays a part in drawing, so it shows activity when this occurs.  However, instead of giving up, the applications seem to go nuts and attempt the (same?) thing frequently, thereby generating CPU activity.*

*Please understand that these are guesses -- if someone can correct me with more technical details or procedures which would help disprove my guesses, please do show me where these guesses are wrong!  I'd love to work towards a solid explanation.

A few more tidbits:

- I do not run Logitech's SetPoint.exe.

- I'm experiencing this on a desktop system.  My display adapters are:  AMD/Radeon HD 7800 series, and the integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000.

- Running Windows 7.

- I am incredibly pleased that not a single person has suggested "defragmenting" in this entire thread.  :)


  • Edited by J Fox J Tuesday, July 16, 2013 4:14 AM formatting
July 16th, 2013 7:13am

Hi all, so the issue is with Microsoft right now. They gathered all the required info and they are trying to reproduce it on their machines (unsuccessfully so far). Reportedly I was the first person reporting this issue, so if we all want to make this higher priority issue please raise support request on your own with your local Microsoft office. This way we should get the fix faster.
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July 23rd, 2013 7:31am

I had the exact same problem with my X1 Carbon Touch ultrabook on Win8 with Outlook.  Updated to the latest Intel video drivers per the recommendation here which has resolved the problem. 
July 28th, 2013 4:32pm

Unfortunately support request has been closed by Microsoft. They were not able to reproduce it :( They suspect it might be related to video drivers somehow (it is strange, as people reported it with Nvidia and ATI/AMD video cards), but they didn't have the same hardware as I have, so it was hard to reproduce it. I'm thinking about going back to Outlook 2010 now, what a shame ...
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August 12th, 2013 11:27am

Unfortunately support request has been closed by Microsoft. They were not able to reproduce it :( They suspect it might be related to video drivers somehow (it is strange, as people reported it with Nvidia and ATI/AMD video cards), but they didn't have the same hardware as I have, so it was hard to reproduce it. I'm thinking about going back to Outlook 2010 now, what a shame ...
Typical. I'm curious though, did you point them to this thread where obviously a multitude of people are having this issue, with a wide variety of video cards not only including Nvidia and ATI?
August 12th, 2013 11:41am

that's why I never phone the support again.
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August 12th, 2013 2:59pm

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


August 20th, 2013 11:39pm


Maybe WIN8.1 will help,

MS recodeed the DWM in 8.1 and uses now Direct2D, maybe this helps to solve it. Try the 8.1Pro/Ent Preview in a native booted VHD and look if the issue is gone.
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August 21st, 2013 12:59am

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


  • Edited by BillIzzy Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:39 AM spelling
August 21st, 2013 3:36am

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


  • Edited by BillIzzy Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:39 AM spelling
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 21st, 2013 6:36am

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


  • Edited by BillIzzy Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:39 AM spelling
August 21st, 2013 6:36am

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


  • Edited by BillIzzy Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:39 AM spelling
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 21st, 2013 6:36am

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


  • Edited by BillIzzy Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:39 AM spelling
August 21st, 2013 6:36am

Over 18 months ago I contacted MS Support on this issue. This is not new to them. Apparently they do not know what to do. I was using Win 7 on a different computer and now I use Win 8 on a new build. I have had the same problem for the whole time, so I wouldn't count on Support for much help.

They told me way back then that it was the video driver. I contacted AMD and they acknowledged that it could be and that I should install an older driver. I tried an older driver and have tried every update so far and I still have the problem. I have no choice but to never let the display go to sleep. I turn it off when I am not using it.

Maybe WIN8.1 will help, but I am not counting on it. Too many headaches to pursue this further.


  • Edited by BillIzzy Wednesday, August 21, 2013 3:39 AM spelling
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August 21st, 2013 6:36am

Thanks. I will wait for the final release and test it out.
August 21st, 2013 8:15pm

Add me to the list of people having this problem.

Running Dell XPS 13.

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August 27th, 2013 9:19am

have you tried the 8.1 Preview?
August 27th, 2013 2:54pm

Typical. I'm curious though, did you point them to this thread where obviously a multitude of people are having this issue, with a wide variety of video cards not only including Nvidi
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September 6th, 2013 5:19pm

Just tested the RTM win 8.1 Enterprise (did an upgrade, not a fresh install), and the problem is still there. I have tried with outlook, without outlook, with setpoint, without setpoint, but my only working option is to leave the monitors on at all times. I have also upgraded office from 2010 to 2013, no effect what so ever. If I am to guess, I would think the issue is related to office somehow, as most people that suffer from this problem run office/outlook.
October 18th, 2013 11:10pm

capture a new xperf trace and upload it.
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October 19th, 2013 3:38am

I am STILL experiencing this even after upgrading from Windows 8/Office 2010 to Windows 8.1/Office 2013. 

Sigh. MS, this is honestly a joke. I cannot for one second believe that they are unable to reproduce this, how many people run Windows and leave Outlook open on their laptops day in/day out... this has to be much more widespread then is being shown in this thread. 

  • Proposed as answer by ghixon Friday, May 23, 2014 5:42 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by ghixon Friday, May 23, 2014 5:42 PM
October 22nd, 2013 12:05pm

I too have been looking at this for months and stumbled upon this thread today!  Like the others my issue occurs as soon as the monitor goes into power save mode.  DWM and Outlook process CPU utilisations spike, and no other process is consuming any significant (>0.5%) CPU except for the System thread which consumes ~1%

Thanks to those who have contributed to the diagnosis and resolution so far!

Scott



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October 22nd, 2013 2:44pm

I am STILL experiencing this even after upgrading from Windows 8/Office 2010 to Windows 8.1/Office 2013. 

Sigh. MS, this is honestly a joke. I cannot for one second believe that they are unable to reproduce this, how many people run Windows and leave Outlook open on their laptops day in/day out... this has to be much more widespread then is being shown in this thread. 

October 22nd, 2013 3:05pm

I am STILL experiencing this even after upgrading from Windows 8/Office 2010 to Windows 8.1/Office 2013. 

Sigh. MS, this is honestly a joke. I cannot for one second believe that they are unable to reproduce this, how many people run Windows and leave Outlook open on their laptops day in/day out... this has to be much more widespread then is being shown in this thread. 

  • Proposed as answer by ghixon 17 hours 7 minutes ago
  • Unproposed as answer by ghixon 17 hours 7 minutes ago
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October 22nd, 2013 3:05pm

I am STILL experiencing this even after upgrading from Windows 8/Office 2010 to Windows 8.1/Office 2013. 

Sigh. MS, this is honestly a joke. I cannot for one second believe that they are unable to reproduce this, how many people run Windows and leave Outlook open on their laptops day in/day out... this has to be much more widespread then is being shown in this thread. 

  • Proposed as answer by ghixon Friday, May 23, 2014 5:42 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by ghixon Friday, May 23, 2014 5:42 PM
October 22nd, 2013 3:05pm

I am STILL experiencing this even after upgrading from Windows 8/Office 2010 to Windows 8.1/Office 2013. 

Sigh. MS, this is honestly a joke. I cannot for one second believe that they are unable to reproduce this, how many people run Windows and leave Outlook open on their laptops day in/day out... this has to be much more widespread then is being shown in this thread. 

  • Proposed as answer by ghixon Friday, May 23, 2014 5:42 PM
  • Unproposed as answer by ghixon Friday, May 23, 2014 5:42 PM
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October 22nd, 2013 3:05pm

Robert and scott. Also provide a xperf trace so that I can take a look at it.
October 23rd, 2013 9:06am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
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November 9th, 2013 5:34am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
  • Proposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:14 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:15 AM
November 9th, 2013 10:28am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
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November 9th, 2013 1:28pm

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
  • Proposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:14 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:15 AM
November 9th, 2013 1:28pm

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
  • Proposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:14 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:15 AM
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November 9th, 2013 1:28pm

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
  • Proposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:14 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:15 AM
November 9th, 2013 1:28pm

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
  • Proposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:14 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by RoyOfTheRovers Friday, February 14, 2014 7:15 AM
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November 9th, 2013 1:28pm

Not sure anyone will read down this far but..

I am using Windows 7 and used to get this issue regularly, with dmw.exe at 100% and each of my Mail windows flashing from one to the other. I do not use setpoint but have had this on Office 2010 and Office 2013.

What SOLVED this for me was to ensure that whenever my machine was going to go into sleep mode, that I never had more than 10 email windows open, yes I know 10 is a lot anyway for some, but I regularly had many more email windows open due to the work I do. Since ensuring that there is no more that 10 open when I put my laptop into sleep mode overnight I have (fingers crossed) not had this issue for several weeks. 

Sorry for those who aren't as manic as me with email and so do not have the same cause, but hope this helps someone in my situation.

February 14th, 2014 2:24am

Roy: Yeah, I guess it would be "solved" by putting your machine in sleep, but that's like saying the problem is "solved" by pulling out the power cord, or by not installing Windows or Office in the first place, or by simply not having a computer. :)
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February 14th, 2014 8:49am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
I have Lenovo Thinkpad T61 with Intel x3100 graphics with Windows 7 SP1, and after turning AERO on there have been same problem, high cpu usage starts after 10 minutes when computer is at idle and lid is closed. When using Windows 7 basic theme (AERO is disabled) no problems, my laptop is really idling with fan turned off. So guess problem has something to do with AERO?

  • Edited by tpaasiala 5 hours 42 minutes ago More info
March 10th, 2014 12:41am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
I have Lenovo Thinkpad T61 with Intel x3100 graphics with Windows 7 SP1, and after turning AERO on there have been same problem, high cpu usage starts after 10 minutes when computer is at idle and lid is closed. When using Windows 7 basic theme (AERO is disabled) no problems, my laptop is really idling with fan turned off. So guess problem has something to do with AERO?

  • Edited by tpaasiala Monday, March 10, 2014 5:14 AM More info
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March 10th, 2014 4:37am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
I have Lenovo Thinkpad T61 with Intel x3100 graphics with Windows 7 SP1, and after turning AERO on there have been same problem, high cpu usage starts after 10 minutes when computer is at idle and lid is closed. When using Windows 7 basic theme (AERO is disabled) no problems, my laptop is really idling with fan turned off. So guess problem has something to do with AERO?

  • Edited by tpaasiala Monday, March 10, 2014 5:14 AM More info
March 10th, 2014 7:37am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
I have Lenovo Thinkpad T61 with Intel x3100 graphics with Windows 7 SP1, and after turning AERO on there have been same problem, high cpu usage starts after 10 minutes when computer is at idle and lid is closed. When using Windows 7 basic theme (AERO is disabled) no problems, my laptop is really idling with fan turned off. So guess problem has something to do with AERO?

  • Edited by tpaasiala Monday, March 10, 2014 5:14 AM More info
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March 10th, 2014 7:37am

I noticed this issue on my Lenovo X1 carbon, win 7. I turned off all visuals in windows (select for best performance in the performance settings of your machine). This is how i want my machine anyway, so for me this is not an issue. Thos who like the shading functions and aero themes will not like this. Nonetheless, the problem disappeared, perhaps that helps someone....
I have Lenovo Thinkpad T61 with Intel x3100 graphics with Windows 7 SP1, and after turning AERO on there have been same problem, high cpu usage starts after 10 minutes when computer is at idle and lid is closed. When using Windows 7 basic theme (AERO is disabled) no problems, my laptop is really idling with fan turned off. So guess problem has something to do with AERO?

  • Edited by tpaasiala Monday, March 10, 2014 5:14 AM More info
March 10th, 2014 7:37am

You've summarized it nicely.

Win7 Pro 64 + ATI 7950 + Intel 4600 (3 monitors). DWM goes to 70% and several other threads also increase usage the highest are exporer and sidebar.

I don't have outlook or any logitech setpoint.

Its funny when your PC draws more power with the screen off than on.

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April 2nd, 2014 7:25pm

After some further experiments, this definitely seems to work for me, I consider this a work around not a genuine fix.

enable 'On Resume, display logon screen' in the screensaver settings. I don't use a screensaver, so its set to non and the wait is just set to same time as screen off in power settings.

Having to enter a password each time I return to the PC is still better than having it sucking up power. I'd use sleep, but that causes no end of problems with some of the hardware devices I have connected. 



  • Edited by B_DINGER 9 hours 27 minutes ago
April 2nd, 2014 9:29pm

After some further experiments, this definitely seems to work for me, I consider this a work around not a genuine fix.

enable 'On Resume, display logon screen' in the screensaver settings. I don't use a screensaver, so its set to non and the wait is just set to same time as screen off in power settings.

Having to enter a password each time I return to the PC is still better than having it sucking up power. I'd use sleep, but that causes no end of problems with some of the hardware devices I have connected. 



  • Edited by B_DINGER Thursday, April 03, 2014 1:26 AM
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April 3rd, 2014 1:25am

After some further experiments, this definitely seems to work for me, I consider this a work around not a genuine fix.

enable 'On Resume, display logon screen' in the screensaver settings. I don't use a screensaver, so its set to non and the wait is just set to same time as screen off in power settings.

Having to enter a password each time I return to the PC is still better than having it sucking up power. I'd use sleep, but that causes no end of problems with some of the hardware devices I have connected. 



  • Edited by B_DINGER Thursday, April 03, 2014 1:26 AM
April 3rd, 2014 4:25am

After some further experiments, this definitely seems to work for me, I consider this a work around not a genuine fix.

enable 'On Resume, display logon screen' in the screensaver settings. I don't use a screensaver, so its set to non and the wait is just set to same time as screen off in power settings.

Having to enter a password each time I return to the PC is still better than having it sucking up power. I'd use sleep, but that causes no end of problems with some of the hardware devices I have connected. 



  • Edited by B_DINGER Thursday, April 03, 2014 1:26 AM
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April 3rd, 2014 4:25am

After some further experiments, this definitely seems to work for me, I consider this a work around not a genuine fix.

enable 'On Resume, display logon screen' in the screensaver settings. I don't use a screensaver, so its set to non and the wait is just set to same time as screen off in power settings.

Having to enter a password each time I return to the PC is still better than having it sucking up power. I'd use sleep, but that causes no end of problems with some of the hardware devices I have connected. 



  • Edited by B_DINGER Thursday, April 03, 2014 1:26 AM
April 3rd, 2014 4:25am

Disabling screen saver seems to work, no more screaming fan on my Thinkpad :) Just wondering, i had 10 minutes timeout on screen saver, same time when high cpu usage started. So there could be problem when screen saver tries to blank screen which is already powered off by laptop? (screen is powered off when closing lid).
  • Edited by tpaasiala 15 hours 28 minutes ago
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April 3rd, 2014 3:17pm

Disabling screen saver seems to work, no more screaming fan on my Thinkpad :) Just wondering, i had 10 minutes timeout on screen saver, same time when high cpu usage started. So there could be problem when screen saver tries to blank screen which is already powered off by laptop? (screen is powered off when closing lid).
  • Edited by tpaasiala Thursday, April 03, 2014 7:21 PM
April 3rd, 2014 7:13pm

Disabling screen saver seems to work, no more screaming fan on my Thinkpad :) Just wondering, i had 10 minutes timeout on screen saver, same time when high cpu usage started. So there could be problem when screen saver tries to blank screen which is already powered off by laptop? (screen is powered off when closing lid).
  • Edited by tpaasiala Thursday, April 03, 2014 7:21 PM
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April 3rd, 2014 10:13pm

Disabling screen saver seems to work, no more screaming fan on my Thinkpad :) Just wondering, i had 10 minutes timeout on screen saver, same time when high cpu usage started. So there could be problem when screen saver tries to blank screen which is already powered off by laptop? (screen is powered off when closing lid).
  • Edited by tpaasiala Thursday, April 03, 2014 7:21 PM
April 3rd, 2014 10:13pm

Turn on disable hardware graphics acceleration in outlook under file options then under advanced

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May 23rd, 2014 1:51pm

Hello, I new to the forum, so sorry if there are mistakes.

Yesterday I realize that my computer show same behavior with yours and I didn't realize it before.

so I try to Google it and I found this site.

Mine running Win 7 64 bit.

No wonder Microsoft couldn't pinpoint the error because in my computer when CPU up to 100% it will make Dwm.exe double in the task manager.

I dont have Outlook or MS office.

So the problem must be something else, and I try to terminate "Rundll32.exe*32" it seem solve the problem.

could anyone check if dwm.exe appear twice in their task manager?

I set screen off at 15 minutes, but if my computer idle for 4 minutes, CPU will be 100%

I try to post pictures that 'dwm.exe's show both 0% and 100% but fail.
May 28th, 2014 3:53am

Hello, I new to the forum, so sorry if there are mistakes.

Yesterday I realize that my computer show same behavior with yours and I didn't realize it before.

so I try to Google it and I found this site.

Mine running Win 7 64 bit.

No wonder Microsoft couldn't pinpoint the error because in my computer when CPU up to 100% it will make Dwm.exe double in the task manager.

I dont have Outlook or MS office.

So the problem must be something else, and I try to terminate "Rundll32.exe*32" it seem solve the problem.

could anyone check if dwm.exe appear twice in their task manager?

I set screen off at 15 minutes, but if my computer idle for 4 minutes, CPU will be 100%

I try to post pictures that 'dwm.exe's show both 0% and 100% but fail.
  • Edited by 11cosine11 Wednesday, May 28, 2014 8:00 AM
  • Proposed as answer by 11cosine11 Thursday, May 29, 2014 7:05 AM
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May 28th, 2014 7:47am

Hello, I new to the forum, so sorry if there are mistakes.

Yesterday I realize that my computer show same behavior with yours and I didn't realize it before.

so I try to Google it and I found this site.

Mine running Win 7 64 bit.

No wonder Microsoft couldn't pinpoint the error because in my computer when CPU up to 100% it will make Dwm.exe double in the task manager.

I dont have Outlook or MS office.

So the problem must be something else, and I try to terminate "Rundll32.exe*32" it seem solve the problem.

could anyone check if dwm.exe appear twice in their task manager?

I set screen off at 15 minutes, but if my computer idle for 4 minutes, CPU will be 100%

I try to post pictures that 'dwm.exe's show both 0% and 100% but fail.
  • Edited by 11cosine11 Wednesday, May 28, 2014 8:00 AM
  • Proposed as answer by 11cosine11 3 hours 43 minutes ago
May 28th, 2014 10:47am

Hello, I new to the forum, so sorry if there are mistakes.

Yesterday I realize that my computer show same behavior with yours and I didn't realize it before.

so I try to Google it and I found this site.

Mine running Win 7 64 bit.

No wonder Microsoft couldn't pinpoint the error because in my computer when CPU up to 100% it will make Dwm.exe double in the task manager.

I dont have Outlook or MS office.

So the problem must be something else, and I try to terminate "Rundll32.exe*32" it seem solve the problem.

could anyone check if dwm.exe appear twice in their task manager?

I set screen off at 15 minutes, but if my computer idle for 4 minutes, CPU will be 100%

I try to post pictures that 'dwm.exe's show both 0% and 100% but fail.
  • Edited by 11cosine11 Wednesday, May 28, 2014 8:00 AM
  • Proposed as answer by 11cosine11 Thursday, May 29, 2014 7:05 AM
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May 28th, 2014 10:47am

I hope i can contribute a little. After messing around with a lot of settings, i actually got dwm to crash in stead of driving the cpu crazy. I get dwm.exe has stopped working...

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
  Application Name: dwm.exe
  Application Version: 0.0.0.0
  Application Timestamp: 5366ab90
  Fault Module Name: StackHash_f75c
  Fault Module Version: 6.3.9600.17031
  Fault Module Timestamp: 530895af
  Exception Code: c0000374
  Exception Offset: PCH_12_FROM_ntdll+0x000000000009B13A
  OS Version: 6.3.9600.2.0.0.768.101
  Locale ID: 1033
  Additional Information 1: f75c
  Additional Information 2: f75cf0dbb4cbdf745462c025cba1623c
  Additional Information 3: b400
  Additional Information 4: b400035f3f98feea05aeaad01beafb43

After trying around ten suggestions from this and other threads individually, i got fed up and made a bunch of changes at once, so i'm not sure what caused this. Some stuff i did:

  • uninstall several programs
  • disable onedrive sync
  • change power plan
  • messed around with drivers of ao display

My PC: Samsung Ativ Slate Pro 7 XE700T1C. Also note that on my pc the problem occurs after a minute or so, while my display blanks after ten minutes so i can see it happening if i have the task manager open.

May 28th, 2014 1:15pm

Some more info

- after rebooted, i installed intel drive updater by system requirements lab. It then changed back from crashing to just using lots of cpu when idle

- i discovered that there are actually two dwm.exe processes active. One is called desktop window manager and is located in C:\Windows\System32. The other is just labelled dwm.exe and was located in C:\Users\Myprofile\AppData\Local\Temp\msupdate71, which contains four files:

28-May-14  19:25         1,492,992 dwm.exe
28-May-14  19:26         1,416,192 indexer.exe
28-May-14  19:26            53,760 libwinpthread-1.dll
28-May-14  19:27           788,607 msupdate.7z
               4 File(s)      3,751,551 bytes

Also... i have been visiting a few dubious sites that were trying to get malware on my computer. This is exactly where i'f hide malware. 

Edit 1: it barely shows up in my registry, only in Windows\Shell\MuiCache.

Edit 2: I found this link about bitcoin miners named dwm.exe: http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/infected-dwm-exe-with-bitcoinminer-gen.202569/, which is placed in a folder with exactly the same name. However windows defender thinks nothing of these files, i installed Avira and it also had nothing bad to say, even wen doing a specific scan of these files.

Edit 3: fixed!!! So i deleted this msupdate71 folder, and sure enough when the pc went idle, it got recreated. This isn't proof that it's malware, but it's a little suspicious imho. I deleted it again and did something very cheesy: i made a read-only file called msupdate71, so it's impossimble to create that folder. And sure enough, no more dwm.exe driving my cpy crazy when idle :-)
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May 28th, 2014 1:43pm

Some more info

- after rebooted, i installed intel drive updater by system requirements lab. It then changed back from crashing to just using lots of cpu when idle

- i discovered that there are actually two dwm.exe processes active. One is called desktop window manager and is located in C:\Windows\System32. The other is just labelled dwm.exe and was located in C:\Users\Myprofile\AppData\Local\Temp\msupdate71, which contains four files:

28-May-14  19:25         1,492,992 dwm.exe
28-May-14  19:26         1,416,192 indexer.exe
28-May-14  19:26            53,760 libwinpthread-1.dll
28-May-14  19:27           788,607 msupdate.7z
               4 File(s)      3,751,551 bytes

Also... i have been visiting a few dubious sites that were trying to get malware on my computer. This is exactly where i'f hide malware. 

Edit 1: it barely shows up in my registry, only in Windows\Shell\MuiCache.

Edit 2: I found this link about bitcoin miners named dwm.exe: http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/infected-dwm-exe-with-bitcoinminer-gen.202569/, which is placed in a folder with exactly the same name. However windows defender thinks nothing of these files, i installed Avira and it also had nothing bad to say, even wen doing a specific scan of these files.

Edit 3: fixed!!! So i deleted this msupdate71 folder, and sure enough when the pc went idle, it got recreated. This isn't proof that it's malware, but it's a little suspicious imho. I deleted it again and did something very cheesy: i made a read-only file called msupdate71, so it's impossimble to create that folder. And sure enough, no more dwm.exe driving my cpy crazy when idle :-)
  • Edited by PizzaMan79 Wednesday, May 28, 2014 6:29 PM
May 28th, 2014 5:36pm

Some more info

- after rebooted, i installed intel drive updater by system requirements lab. It then changed back from crashing to just using lots of cpu when idle

- i discovered that there are actually two dwm.exe processes active. One is called desktop window manager and is located in C:\Windows\System32. The other is just labelled dwm.exe and was located in C:\Users\Myprofile\AppData\Local\Temp\msupdate71, which contains four files:

28-May-14  19:25         1,492,992 dwm.exe
28-May-14  19:26         1,416,192 indexer.exe
28-May-14  19:26            53,760 libwinpthread-1.dll
28-May-14  19:27           788,607 msupdate.7z
               4 File(s)      3,751,551 bytes

Also... i have been visiting a few dubious sites that were trying to get malware on my computer. This is exactly where i'f hide malware. 

Edit 1: it barely shows up in my registry, only in Windows\Shell\MuiCache.

Edit 2: I found this link about bitcoin miners named dwm.exe: http://www.techspot.com/community/topics/infected-dwm-exe-with-bitcoinminer-gen.202569/, which is placed in a folder with exactly the same name. However windows defender thinks nothing of these files, i installed Avira and it also had nothing bad to say, even wen doing a specific scan of these files.

Edit 3: fixed!!! So i deleted this msupdate71 folder, and sure enough when the pc went idle, it got recreated. This isn't proof that it's malware, but it's a little suspicious imho. I deleted it again and did something very cheesy: i made a read-only file called msupdate71, so it's impossimble to create that folder. And sure enough, no more dwm.exe driving my cpy crazy when idle :-)
  • Edited by PizzaMan79 Wednesday, May 28, 2014 6:29 PM
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May 28th, 2014 8:36pm

as for me it is proof that bitcoint Trojan tried to disguise its activity during the idle time.

and that's why Microsoft couldn't recreate the problem in their lab.

I think it is better to delete the things in registry and after that boot up in safe mode and delete all files inside temp folder.


  • Proposed as answer by 11cosine11 3 hours 44 minutes ago
May 29th, 2014 2:56am

In my case I have the same symptomps on freshly installed Windows 8, so for sure it is not because of malware.
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May 29th, 2014 6:38am

as for me it is proof that bitcoint Trojan tried to disguise its activity during the idle time.

and that's why Microsoft couldn't recreate the problem in their lab.

I think it is better to delete the things in registry and after that boot up in safe mode and delete all files inside temp folder.


  • Proposed as answer by 11cosine11 Thursday, May 29, 2014 7:04 AM
May 29th, 2014 6:49am

as for me it is proof that bitcoint Trojan tried to disguise its activity during the idle time.

and that's why Microsoft couldn't recreate the problem in their lab.

I think it is better to delete the things in registry and after that boot up in safe mode and delete all files inside temp folder.


  • Proposed as answer by 11cosine11 Thursday, May 29, 2014 7:04 AM
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May 29th, 2014 9:49am

In my case I have the same symptomps on freshly installed Windows 8, so for sure it is not because of malware.
  • Proposed as answer by VBjad Wednesday, July 02, 2014 11:44 AM
  • Unproposed as answer by VBjad Wednesday, July 02, 2014 11:44 AM
May 29th, 2014 10:31am

In my case I have the same symptomps on freshly installed Windows 8, so for sure it is not because of malware.
  • Proposed as answer by VBjad 23 hours 6 minutes ago
  • Unproposed as answer by VBjad 23 hours 6 minutes ago
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May 29th, 2014 1:31pm

I traced the original problem to a folder in %appdata% called msupdate71 but the folder kept reapearing after I deleted it.

I noticed this issue apeared simultaneously to an alert by my antivirus stating that it failed to clean a variant of Win32/CoinMiner.QZ trojan.

So i manualy deleted the Trojan wich was hiding in appdata under mdi564.dll and the antivirus imediatly found it in the recycle bin. Then, I deleted the msupdate71 folder, and haven't had an overheating-CPU since.

But i don't think this is the same problem asked in the question as this Trojan is pretty recent and eventhough i have outlook 2013 the problem apeared regardless of it being open or closed.

July 2nd, 2014 8:15am

Well, my issue is finally gone. I don't  know what was the reason, but what I did was to upgrade from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. It also required me to upgrade different drivers and I suspect it is either Windows 8.1 or new ATI graphics card driver which solved the issue.

Anyway it is so strange to have it working now after almost a year. I even have this habit of closing the Outlook before locking the OS. Now I have to wean from it :)

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July 2nd, 2014 12:42pm

Hi Daniel,   I'm using Windows 8 and Windows Live Mail 12.   I have been experiencing the same CPU hog issue which continues after disabling almost everything.   I also noticed dwm.exe is active when it occurs and also wondered if it was being initiated from elsewhere.   After reading your comments regarding a possible association with Outlook  (thank you Daniel, for being so articulate in your comments), I decided to take a look.   I haven't explored the mail programme for a long time.   The computer shop transferred everything over and set everything up with Win8 etc after the last machine broke down, and because mail is a familiar program, I haven't really looked at it... so... because of what you wrote, I checked accounts and took a look at  'active directory-NULL' because the word 'active' inferred to me there may be a background process conducting automated repetitive calls or actions :-)   I don't have any IT qualifications or IT analysis experience, however; after performing an online search, I found the following. It infers multiple Remote Procedure Calls might be automatically initiated/repeated where, eg; 'If no SCP records are found':   Troubleshooting Outlook Connectivity: Understanding Outlook Profiles http://blogs.technet.com/b/mspfe/archive/2011/03/23/troubleshooting_2d00_outlook_2d00_connectivity_2d00_understanding_2d00_outlook_2d00_profiles.aspx   I searched the above explanation for 'limit', 'idle' or 'stop', to see if the process might be configured to limit activity or stop, but I couldn't find any limitations or parameters, which doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist - just that it wasn't info included in the explanation.   (1) However... the above 'troubleshooting outlook' article made me wonder if it's possible an automated (AutoDiscover-type) Remote Procedure Call (RPC) process is involved {maybe set-up without sufficient parameter limitations}... and that could be the culprit?   Is that possible?  

(2) Or could it be that the same process is vulnerable to dishonourable purposes, eg; accessing Outlook's address book?

As mentioned, I don't have any qualifications or analytic experience in IT, so if I'm way out of the ball park, feel free to just ignore my post.

September 11th, 2015 9:05pm

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