Update Windows 10 KB4512941 resulting in high CPU usage in Cortana

After installing last week's cumulative update KB4512941 for Windows 10 v1903, some users reported that Cortana's SearchUI.exe process had high CPU utilization and spikes.

This is due to a buggy version of Cortana in this version, which seems to present problems when users have disabled the ability to send local searches to Bing, either through the registry or via Group Policy. If this feature is disabled, Cortana consumes a lot of CPU time and Windows Search may display empty search results.

You can see an example of Cortana using 40% of the CPU in the image below from a Reddit user.

To solve this problem, Windows 10 users have three options: enable BingSearch, replace the Cortana Cache folder with an earlier version, or uninstall the update.

Some cumulative updates introduce new bugs in Windows 10, but they correct a much larger number. It is therefore not recommended to uninstall it unless it is absolutely necessary.

Instead, you can enable BingSearch temporarily until this problem is resolved by setting the parameter BingSearchEnabled value to 1 under the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Search Key recording.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionSearch]
"BingSearchEnabled" = 1

Borncity.com's Günter Born also reports that some users have reported that they have solved this problem by replacing the c: Windows SystemApps Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy cache folder with a copy of the previous version of Windows found in C: Windows.old.

Other Reddit users have had similar experiences by correcting it this way, but this has not solved Windows Search.

"I've been able to solve the CPU usage problem by copying the cache folder from the windows.old backup, but my local search is no longer working." You have ideas on how to to make it work again and adjust the CPU usage? "

Finally, Born also mentions that you can enable or disable the Do not allow search on the web policy under Computer Configuration Strategies Administrative Templates Windows Components Search to solve the problem.

For the moment, Microsoft has not recognized these bugs in its technical support bulletin for KB4512941:

"Microsoft is not aware of any problem with this update."

H / T Windowslatest.com