High CPU use by taskhost.exe in Windows 8.1 when user name contains “user”

If you are constantly facing high CPU usage in Windows 8.1, see what login name you have for your user account. If it contains the word "user", then this can be the cause of your issue. Microsoft has documented this problem and suggests a fix for this case.

All versions and editions of Windows 8.1 are affected by this high CPU usage bug if the user name contains the string "user". The process taskhost.exe causes the CPU load. It can be visible in Task Manager. According to Microsoft, the cause for this is the defective DLL file DFPCommon.dll.

Microsoft's recommendation sounds pretty weird:

Resolution

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To resolve the issue, do not create a user account contains the string "user" on the computer.

The problem is that thousands of PCs may already have that word in the name, and all of them will face the issue for no reason. It is unlikely that Microsoft will release a patch for this bug.

If you are affected by this issue, you can try these two solutions:

1. Remove the "user" account completely from your operating system and create a new one for your daily use.
2. If you cannot remove the user account, for example, if it configured in some special way and the configuration cannot be moved/applied to a new account, then rename it.
   Follow these detailed instructions to change the login name:

   How to change your logon name (user account name) in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8

Sometimes bugs in modern Windows versions are very unique. In the pre-Vista era, we had no such issues with stability, usability and privacy like we have these days. Situations like this leave the end user frustrated and resenting Microsoft software.

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