Okay, a solution for Windows 7 X64 which has worked for two machines:
Install KB3161608

Listed with direct links under "Alternative Fix (June 2016)"
at this superuser post (via superuser link above):
http://superuser.com/questions/944574/windows-update-doesnt-work-and-consumes-100-of-cpu-win7-sp1/997067#997067
[..]
Note:
my problem was not only very high CPU usage [windows update check/svchost], but also inability to find *any* updates

I can report this working on another Windows 7 machine (not mine) with similar problems.

(Was my sister in Canada: she got an IT guy to look at it, they had no solution; so I enjoyed being able to say I probably know how to fix that...)

Okay, a solution for Windows 7 X64 which has worked for two machines:
Install KB3161608

Listed with direct links under "Alternative Fix (June 2016)"
at this superuser post (via superuser link above):
http://superuser.com/questions/944574/windows-update-doesnt-work-and-consumes-100-of-cpu-win7-sp1/997067#997067

Took a while on the older machine, but both machines found downloads and were able to successfully download and install (I didnt do all updates in one go FWIW)

Note:
my problem was not only very high CPU usage, but also inability to find *any* updates

Never ran into this previously, but have had a Win7 x64 machine on the bench all week because it had been checking for updates for almost 2 days. Ran the above fix and it found 233 updates inside of half an hour.

I'd say it's a keeper!

Thanks Tom!

Quote from: Imran Shahid on January 10, 2017, 02:47 PM

I installed KB3161608 but the problem is still there. One solution to [url=/]netsvcs[/url] high cpu usage can be to stop updates.

what's with the link -- it looks good if you scroll down, but first suggestion is some sort of registry repair programme?
Why dont you mention contents of link? Did you try any of the suggestions there?

The simple answer- it's spam.