Windows 10 High CPU usage from Simple tasks/System interrupts in Windows 10 on Lenovo Ideapad 520s

[FrowningApron]

Over the last few weeks my CPU usage has regularly been incredibly high. I can hear my computer's fan whirring very quickly, and when I open task manager the CPU usage is regularly near, or at, 100%. It is occasionally listed as system interrupts - which, as soon as I open task manager, quickly disappears, but is usually replaced by something else which says it is using an equivalent amount of CPU (for example, file explorer or google chrome, or a Sophos virus scan). I thought this may have meant my computer had been cryptojacked, however other simple tasks - like editing a microsoft word document - also cause incredibly high CPU usage alone. If I have open one word document and nothing else, of around 10 pages with 12,000 words and no images, whenever I save the document word freezes for a minute or two (saying 'not responding') - and according to Task Manager, nothing else is using the CPU substantially.

I read other threads about this and followed the advice given: I've checked all my drivers for updates - they say they are up to date. I never have any external hardware plugged in. I've also done several malware scans with malwarebytes and quarantined anything they've found. I also reduced the number of programs that open on startup. None of this has made a difference. My PC is not brand new (3.5 years old) but it still seems strange it should struggle to work with a single word document!

Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this?

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