***Updated 25/04/2007 See the comments for the latest on this issue (scroll down)*****

Apologies for the post title but it best describes the problem.

Back in Windows XP Tech Support World (or the Real World as you know it).

I spend some time today looking at the problem in Windows XP Pro. I had a laptop that when logged on scvhost.exe was taking 100% of the CPU for about 70 seconds.

Looking into what scvhost.exe was doing, in this case wuauclt.exe (basically windows update).

Turning off Automatic Updates made it go away but that’s not really a solution.

The link below was the most helpful in fixing this issue for those in the same boat.

THIS LINK NOW BROKEN
Link: http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=906329&SiteID=2

Also helpful in dealing with rogue Windows processess is the Process Explorer from sysinternals > now Microsoft (Thanks to Mark Russinovich for a such great tool)

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx