Fixing 100% disk usage in Windows 10 with Chrome and Skype running

Anonymous
2015-08-16T12:25:27+00:00

How to fix 100% disk usage in Windows 10

This is caused by a common combination of Skype as well Google Chrome. Similar issue with other programs could also cause 100% disk usage. To fix this do the following:

Google Chrome:

In Google Chrome, go to Settings > Show Advanced Settings ... > Privacy > Prefetch resources to load pages more quickly

and untick it. See Figure-1 below:

Figure-1

Skype:

Make sure you have exited Skype and it is not running in the taskbar (if it is running in the taskbar then quit it).

Open Windows Explorer and open the following folder:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone"

Now right click "Skype.exe" file and then click "Properties" and open the "Security" tab.

Click the "Edit" button and then highlight "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES" and place a tick in the "Write" box.

Click "Apply" and then "OK" and then "OK" again. See Figures-2 to Figure-6 below:

This is it, now run Skype and check the Disk Usage in Task Manager and it will no longer show you 100% disk usage anymore:-

I hope this helps people. I spent a long time in finding a solution to this problem.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-02T16:15:44+00:00

    I didn't have Skype running but shutting down OneDrive did the trick for me. 

    I also noticed that when I work on documents stored on SharePoint, the Microsoft Office Upload Center also adds to the aggravation as it seems to have to maintain a constant connection of save/update with the server version of the document. I suppose switching to check-out mode might help... work offline, then upload back.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-02-26T21:39:58+00:00

    Hello ! 

    Suggestions from this link helped me fix the issue. Disable Superfetch and Windows Search. Your system will calm down :)

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-tips-fix-100-disk-usage-improve-windows-performance/

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-02-26T18:18:34+00:00

    The Windows Audio Device Graph Isolation often is connected with Cortana being set to respond to Hey Cortana.  Try turning that off and see if it solves the problem.  Click in the search box to open Cortana and the go into her Notebook to find the Settings.  Scroll down to where it has the Hey Cortana message and disable that.

    You can still talk to Cortana by manually clicking the microphone in the search box.

    Some audio chips just don't seem to work with Cortana, but driver updates may eventually solve the problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-02-25T04:14:15+00:00

    I disagree, Disk usage should never reach 100% unless you are running something very intensive like some antivirus scans with heurisitcs.

    Caveat, everyone's PC is unique in some respects, so solutions are not universal.

    FYI - I upgraded my old (2010) asus UL30A with an SSD to improve performance, and initially it was great with Win 7, almost instant boot/shutdown and fast transfer rates, but as soon as I upgraded to Win 10 I had the Disk Util problem.  I fixed all the regular culprits (Startup programs like Onedrive, Dropbox etc) but I still had the disk problem every day.

    I just solved it with the following, I hope it helps.

    I followed one of the suggestions in the following makeuseof article, and it dropped my disk usage from 100% to 3 or 4% immediately - I stopped the windows search service and I disabled it.  I can always enable it as needed.

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-tips-fix-100-disk-usage-improve-windows-performance/

    To stop this, and prevent it from happening during your current session (until Windows is rebooted) open the Command Prompt (the quickest way is by right-clicking the Start button and selecting Command Prompt (Admin)) and enter the following:

    net.exe stop “Windows search”

    To permanently disable Windows Search or Indexing, press Windows

    • R, enterservices.exe, and hit Enter. In the Services window that opens find the Windows Search entry and double-click it to open the Windows Search Propertieswindow. Under Startup type, select Disabled. Here you can click Stop to abort the service. Click OK to save your changes.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-02-25T04:04:24+00:00

    Try this, Skype/Chrome didn't help me either

    I followed one of the suggestions in the following makeuseof article, and it dropped my disk usage from 100% to 3 or 4% immediately - I stopped the windows search service and I disabled it.

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/4-tips-fix-100-disk-usage-improve-windows-performance/

    To stop this, and prevent it from happening during your current session (until Windows is rebooted) open the Command Prompt (the quickest way is by right-clicking the Start button and selecting Command Prompt (Admin)) and enter the following:

    net.exe stop “Windows search”

    To permanently disable Windows Search or Indexing, press Windows

    • R, enterservices.exe, and hit Enter. In the Services window that opens find the Windows Search entry and double-click it to open the Windows Search Propertieswindow. Under Startup type, select Disabled. Here you can click Stop to abort the service. Click OK to save your changes.

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