Continuing the trend ofWindows 11Insider builds receiving heavy criticism (albeit for different reasons, lately), the June Windows 11 Insider builds thus far have suffered from a persistent high CPU usage bug tied to a specific Service. This issue was originally reported by leginmat90 on Jun 16, 2025 via theMicrosoft Community Forums, and can be manually fixed by end users willing to disable the Microsoft Cross Device Service.
Unfortunately for Windows 11 Insiders who actually want to use the Cross Device Service, though,Microsofthas yet to release a fix. PerNeowin’s reporting of an Insiders-only Feedback Hub response, Microsoft engineer Jennifer G was quoted saying “Appreciate your patience, we’ve identified the cause and are working on a fix.” a week ago… but no fix has yet been released.
It is speculated that this bug emerged due to new feature improvements to Windows 11’s Cross Device Service, which basically does exactly what it sounds like — by allowing your PC to more easily synchronize with your phone for file-sharing and such.Phone Linksupport was identified as the most likely culprit, but older changes made to Cross Device Service within this year’s Insider Builds could also be responsible.
Perhaps the higher-ups at Microsoft should re-evaluate their priorities in developing Windows? Having up to 10% CPU usage taken up on a user’s system while it’s doing nothing at the same time privacy concerns around Recall and the like are getting worse than ever is not a good look. Granted, Microsoft continues pushing Recall’s features whilewithdrawing it from the main Windows 11 build, so perhaps they truly don’t care about using their Insiders as guinea pigs.
At least Windows 10 users don’t have to worry about all this stuff yet… although Windows 10 support is set toend with Version 22H2in 2025. AMD is already starting todrop Windows 10 compatibility from some of its newer CPU releasesas well… so hopefully for the Windows PC market, Microsoft gets better at listening to its users and providing what theyactuallywant instead of continuing to force features no one asked for.
Though Microsoft paying attention to the customer is starting to seem more and more like wishful thinking, each day.
Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.