Task Manager bug in Windows 10 October update misreports CPU usage

[Hogg]

For the past couple of days, Microsoft has been rolling out its October 2018 Update for Windows 10, the last of two major upgrades planned for this year. I installed it on my own PC without any major issues. However, I can confirm reports that a previously known Task Manager bug has hitched a ride with the final release.

A user on Reddit noted that the Task Manager is not showing the correct CPU usage after updating Windows.

"When I open my Task Manager and switch to more details, the CPU usage of the processes has one more division by 10. For example, when I open Chrome it will show the overall CPU usage to be 100 percent but Chrome's usage [should] be 3-4 percent," the user writes.

This was a known issue with one of the preview builds in the Windows Insider program, and it's slipped into the public release. I'm seeing the same issue myself, though not to the same extreme. The reported CPU usage on my system bounces around from around 9-20 percent, which at any given moment is about 10 percent higher than what it should be. The screenshot above is from my own PC.

For most users (myself included), this is more of a minor annoyance than a major issue. I haven't noticed my system fans ramping up as a result of Task Manager's bad math, so that's a good thing.

An even better thing is that Microsoft is planning to address the issue soon, according to Bleeping Computer. Apparently there will be a fix rolled into the upcoming Patch Tuesday update for October. These updates arrive the second Tuesday of every month, which in this case is October 9.