Alright, I don’t know how much of an effect each change will have on CPU usage, but hopefully it will add up to a meaningful difference.
1. De-purtify windows
2. Stop Bloatware
Disable every program that you don’t need running 24/7. Note that startup programs used to be controlled through MSConfig in previous versions of windows.
3. Stop Non-Essential Services
Look up a guide for stopping non-essential windows services. Now, it does look like MS have gotten better about setting non-essential services to manual by default, but it looks like there are still a few set to automatically start with windows. Moreover, some of the services set to manual seem to start on their own for no reason. So, try setting services to manual first, and if they start up on their own, then set them to disabled.
4. Turn off Disk Indexing
“Windows Search” (or “Indexing Service” in older versions of windows) is another service that can be turned off.
5. Set Power Plan to Maximum Performance
Stuff Stolen from other guides
6. Disable windows tips and tricks.
7. Turn off Storage Sense