When your PC suddenly goes very slow , the most normal and the first thing that most people do is open the task manager to see if there are any processes consuming system resources. If this is your case and you see that there is a process called WSAPPX that has a high use of the disk drive and that as a result everything you do on the PC works extremely slow, we are going to tell you what you can do to fix it.
The WSAPPX process is an old acquaintance of many users, as there are times when it seemingly comes out of nowhere and starts to consume a lot of CPU resources and disk usage on the system, causing everything else to run very slow. Although its name probably does not tell you much, from now on we tell you that it is a legitimate Windows service and not a virus so you do not have to worry about it. However, it is clear that something has to be done and then we are going to tell you what.
What is the WSAPPX process?
With this strange name, Microsoft decided to name a service that was first introduced in Windows 8 and that is part of the universal Windows platform and Microsoft Store. It is, in fact, a process that as a general rule is always running, what happens is that it consumes almost no resources and that is why we ignore it … until it stops doing it and then we have to act.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the process does not use any CPU or disk resources, and it only occupies 2.6 MB of RAM. And this is normal, but sometimes the CPU consumption and disk usage skyrockets and goes to 100%, and that is where the problems arise.
This process, as we have mentioned before, has to do with the universal Windows platform, and if you enter the Microsoft Store you will see that its resource consumption begins to rise, even more intensely at the time of installing an application from the Store since it is the person in charge of verifying the authenticity of the license of the application you are going to install. This is what makes the use of this process increase when you start using an application, or when you are installing it.
So far it is normal, but what happens if the process begins to slow down the entire PC for a long time and without coming to mind?
What to do if the process slows down the PC?
It is not normal or usual for it to happen, but sometimes it happens and you would not be the first user with the problem (otherwise this article would not make sense either). So, if in your case the process “jumps” for no reason and slows down your computer for a long time, the first thing you should do is scan your computer for viruses , since a common behavior in viruses is to impersonate processes legitimate operating system to run its malicious code on the PC.
Here it is your choice whether to use the antivirus built into Windows or if you have a third-party one. We recommend Malwarebytes because it is free, fast and works quite well, but it is up to you to decide.
The second thing you should look at is if you have all the Windows updates installed; Since WSAPPX is a process that belongs to the set of Microsoft Store services, updating Windows can install an update for the Store as well, so it is recommended to check it. Likewise, access the Store and check that there is no update, precisely, from the Store itself (and if there is, update it).
If after these checks you still have the same problem, the last resort is to disable the Store. This involves editing the Windows settings and is not recommended, but if you have no choice, we will explain how to do it.
The first thing is to access the Windows group policy editor. To do this, press WIN + R and type “gpedit.msc” without the quotes and click OK. In the window that opens (Local Group Policy Editor), expand Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Store “.
Once selected, on the right side look for the option “Deactivate the Store application”, double-click on it, check “Enabled” and click OK. Then close the editor and restart your PC for the change to take effect.
Once this is done you should have got rid of the problem for good, but if the WSAPPX process keeps appearing then you definitely have some kind of virus or malware that you should fix.