High CPU usage after update

I updated NetWorx from version 5.5.5 to 7.1.4. I use the Taskbar widget and it makes explorer.exe use 100% CPU when clicking or interacting with the taskbar. It is very disruptive.

I use Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Enterprise build 9600 on a VM with 1 core at 3.8GHz. I know it's old and crappy, but if you could try to solve this problem I would be so happy to purchase the new version because the old one does not works properly with my VPN.

If you need the ISO of this version of Windows I can provide it. Please note this problem is not present on Windows 10. NetWorx works flawlessly on Windows 10 21H2.

On Windows 8.1, for now, I reverted to version 5.5.5 and the CPU is perfect. But like I said, the graph is not precise because of my VPN.

I'm available if you need to do tests, but I will also understand if you do not want to waste time supporting this deprecated version of Windows.
I wish you a nice day!

We can confirm that CPU usage can rise to 100% as you described. This issue is not specific to Windows 8.1, but rather to single-core systems.

We are uncertain why this happens, but it appears to be related to the workaround we use to embed the NetWorx graph into the taskbar. For some reason, both NetWorx itself and Windows Explorer start consuming CPU in a loop.

The reason we moved away from the classic Windows deskband used in older version of NetWorx to the aforementioned workaround is that Microsoft has completely removed taskbar customisation from Windows 11, rendering the classic approach ineffective. This workaround has a few edge cases where it causes issues, such as the one you experienced with single-core systems.

I'm afraid the only solution we have at the moment for single-core systems is to use an older version, like 5.5.5, which has the classic deskband taskbar graph and does not cause excessive CPU usage.