How To Resolve Realsched.exe High CPU Usage Issue

The main purpose of the RealNetworks application scheduler, or realsched.exe, is to handle automatic updates and update notifications for RealPlayer. This file is installed on your computer along with RealPlayer.

Two criticisms of this process are:

  1. There is a suspicion that RealPlayer uses this file to collect information about users, such as the movies users frequently watch.
  2. This frequently reports high CPU usage and causes system freeze ups.

Steps to remove the process from startup programs

This process is a non-essential startup process. In other words, you can safely disable it at startup without affecting the performance of your RealPlayer.

To disable the process at startup, you need to (1) turn off Message Center, and (2) remove the exe process from your startup sequence.

Turn off Message Center

  1. Double-click the RealPlayer icon on your desktop.
  2. Click Tools.
  3. Click Preferences.
  4. Click Message Center located under Automatic Services in the Category section.
  5. Click Configure Message Center.
  6. Uncheck all the listed items.
  7. Click OK twice.
  8. Exit RealPlayer.
  9. Restart Windows.

Remove the process from the startup sequence

  1. Click the Windows icon on your taskbar.
  2. Type run in the Start Search box.
  3. Type msconfig in the Run dialog box, and then press the OK button.
  4. Click the Startup tab.
  5. Locate and clear the checkbox before realsched.exe.
  6. Click Apply.
  7. Click OK.

Resolve high CPU usage issue

Quite often, this exe process reports 100% CPU usage and prevents you from doing any work on your computer. This behavior is reported when RealPlayer is in use and also when the user is not using RealPlayer.

In case this process frequently reports high CPU usage, you may well choose to remove it. To do this, you need to complete the following tasks – (1) terminate the process, (2) delete all registry entries related to the process, and (3) delete the exe file.

How to terminate the process

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.
  2. Click the Processes tab.
  3. Select realsched.exe.
  4. Click End Process.

How to delete the exe file’s registry entries

Warning: You should always make a registry backup before editing it. You may use a reliable registry maintenance tool for this purpose or back up the registry manually.

  1. Click the Windows icon in your taskbar.
  2. Type regedit in the Start Search box to open the registry editor window.
  3. Click the Edit menu, and then click Find Next.
  4. Locate and delete all the files named realsched.exe.
  5. Exit the registry editor.

Delete the exe file

  1. Open Windows Explorer.
  2. Navigate to  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\
  3. Locate and right-click this exe file, and then click Delete.

Is realsched.exe also a virus?

Yes, it is. Malware programs are known to give their files the same names as genuine processes to escape detection. This is the case with this exe file. The genuine exe file, as mentioned above, is part of RealPlayer. The ‘other’ exe file is a malicious process and is known to be associated with the Lovgate Worm.

How to tell if your PC is infected with the malware version of this exe file

Open the Task Manager window (by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc) to determine if the realsched.exe exe process is running on your computer. If you notice one of the following two scenarios then the malicious realsched.exe file is present on your computer.

  1. Two instances of this exe process are running when RealPlayer is installed on your computer.
  2. The process is running on your computer even when RealPlayer is not installed on your computer.

How to get rid of the realsched.exe virus

To remove this malware, perform the following steps:

  1. Download and install a reliable antimalware tool.
  2. Reboot Windows in Safe Mode.
  3. Perform a malware scan on your entire computer.