Network driver the cause of massive CPU usage

TLDR; For several months, svchost.exe has shown a constant CPU usage of about 20%. Today I found it caused by a bad network driver.

My computer is about one year old. At first I found it both swift and enduring, with a battery lasting even for the longest meetings. But something changed, and I have for the last month learned to bring a power cord with me.

To day I decided to find the source of the problem.

• Process Exlorer shows svchost.exe hugs the CPU.
• Resource Monitor shows PerfSvc - User Profile Service being the hugger.
• Process Monitor shows a constant search of the registry. Same few registry keys over and over again. This turns out to be something searchable.
• Google provides a thread describing exact same issue, blaming a bad network driver for the problem.
• DeviceManager shows my network driver, Intel Ethernet Connection I217-LM, is from September 2014, and there's one from late October available for download

And now PerfSvc is gone from the radar. Nice. Looking forward to the next meeting. Hoping it's a long one and that my battery lasts. :-)