Every time we turn on a Windows 10-based PC, all the applications that we have configured for it are started together with the operating system. At the same time, the system and its programs start a multitude of processes that work in the background and make everything respond as we need it, one of them is Identity_Helper.exe .
In fact, to give us an idea, there are many processes and services that do not stop running in the background on a system as important as Windows 10 . In many cases this number of elements is increasing as Redmond integrates new functions and applications to their operating system. As you can imagine, all of this directly affects the overall performance of the team.
All this is especially evident if you have a somewhat old PC, or limited in terms of internal specifications. As background processes are added to the set, they consume more resources, hence they affect the operation of the computer.
How to see the processes that consume the most resources in Windows
We tell you all this because on certain occasions we can find that suddenly there is a very high consumption of CPU and RAM . This can become a serious problem, especially on older PCs. Therefore, if necessary, it is more than possible that we are interested in being able to control these processes that run in the background. And it is that in many occasions, these elements in particular are the culprits that we run out of resources.
As you can imagine, this is something that negatively affects the rest of the applications in operation, and the team in general. Therefore, in order to take a first-hand look at the processes that are consuming the most RAM and CPU in real time, we help you. For this we only have to use the Windows Task Manager. We can access this section in different ways. Perhaps the fastest is through the key combination Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
Once in this section that we comment, we find a list of the processes and programs running at that time. At the same time we can see which sections to see the consumption of disk, CPU , RAM, etc .; for each process. We just have to click on the corresponding column so that they are ordered based on it and see which ones consume the most. To finish with a certain one, we only have to click on it with the right mouse button. Of course, we must know what it corresponds to, since there are basic processes for the operation of Windows .
What is this process Identity_Helper.exe in Windows 10
We tell you all this because on certain occasions we are going to find a process called Identity_Helper.exe. This, as we mentioned before, we can see it in the same Windows 10 Task Manager. At first we can ask ourselves the question of why this element is constantly working in this section, and consuming resources, in addition .
Well, we are going to explain below what it is about and what it refers to exactly. To give us a rough idea of what we have here, the Identity_Helper.exe process is actually called PWA Identity Proxy Host . Say that this is actually associated with the Microsoft Edge browser that already includes the Redmond operating system. If we go a little deeper into the subject, it should be mentioned that the process in question is responsible for helping the integration of PWAs with Windows Shell in the aforementioned Microsoft Edge.
How to locate the Edge process
Well, once we know what the Identity_Helper process is about in Windows, we can verify its existence on the computer on our own. To do this, as we told you before, we only have to launch the Task Manager so that it appears on the screen. Once we have it in view, next we switch to the Details tab that we find a little further to the right, in the upper part of the window.
Once we navigate a bit through the list that appears here, in Details , if we find the process itself, it is obviously running at that moment. At the same time we can observe the consumption of resources, for example of RAM and CPU, which is being carried out.
Check if the Identity_Helper process is not malware
At the same time we can make a simple check on whether the process we are talking about is legitimate, or not. This is something that we can do in a simple way just by taking a look at the actual location where it is placed on disk. Well, for this, once we have the element that interests us on the screen , we click with the right mouse button on it and choose Open file location.
At that time the system will direct us directly to the disk location of the folder in File Explorer. This could be something similar to the one we show you here:
C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft/Edge/Application/90.0.818.56
As we see in the disk path, indeed this process that we are investigating refers to some of the internal applications of the Edge browser . Therefore, it allows installed web applications to be created with their own identity for Windows applications. This actually achieves better integration with the operating system shell. Thus, the identity_helper.exe process is used by Edge to manage this PWA feature, hence the process that runs in the background.
However, in the event that clicking on Open file location sends us to another strange disk path, it is probably some type of malware. This is something that could confirm the fact that the consumption of CPU and RAM is very high. At this point we can choose to end it. At the same time, we recommend running the antivirus so that the malware is permanently eliminated.