Hello, I wanted to post my solution in case anyone else is having same issue. I am using Cubase Artist 9 and my system is Intel Core i3-4170 CPU@3.70Ghz, 8.00 GB RAM, 64-bit operating system with Windows 10. Sluggish issues and complete audio dropout was happening about every 10 -12 minutes and would last about 3 minutes with 100% CPU spike the whole 3 minutes or more. I tried disabling malwarbytes, mcAfee, SuperFetch and Window update service but still had the issue. I am using a Seagate External drive. I uninstalled the Seagate Dashboard…problem solved. Can still use the usb Seagate drive without the dashboard and have had no issues at this point. Hope this helps someone because it drove me crazy for awhile.
Peace 