This morning I was watching the CPU graph of a Windows 7 Home laptop and noticed that every few seconds, the CPU would spike several percent. I watched the processes and determined that it was mobsync.exe (Offline Files) that was the culprit.

I tried the usual steps that Googling turns up, and clicking the Manage Offline Files link to bring up the Offline Files dialog to click Disable Synch does not work because the dialog will not display. This makes sense since everything I have read indicates that Offline Files is not even included/supported in the Home version, so I am at a loss as to why it is running at all, let alone why it is sucking up CPU cycles. (My best guess is that it was started when they pressed Win+X to access the Mobility Center.)

Of course I can just kill mobsync, but it could always just come back.

How/why would mobsync be running on a Home version and how can it be disabled (of course the Group Policy editor is not available on a Home version).