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
    2016-06-30T18:11:07+00:00

    but how?

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-06-30T15:45:04+00:00

    Mine turned out to be a disk fault. The system error log showed repeated disk errors and a chkdsk /f fixed the problem. Most of the things I've read here could be the result of an underlying disk error that is by-passed by changes to the software trying to access the dud sector. I'd suggest a check of the error log and chkdsk as early diagnostics for this problem.

    vic

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-06-30T08:23:30+00:00

    Hi the same problem is for my laptop also..did you managed to resolve it ?

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-06-29T19:11:19+00:00

    Solved. 

    My situation:

    C: SSD960GB with win10 & programs

    D: SSD960GB with downloads, videos & music

    I only had the 100% problem with drive D! I first notice when starting a torrent with qBittorrent. Then I notice that every time I tried to do stuff like watch videos, mess with pictures, sometimes just creating a new folder, that problem appeared. I had to wait for a few minutes to use the D: drive again. Everything else working fine during this time.

    Solution to me: changed the cable for a new one. Same port.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-06-29T07:38:32+00:00

    Had a client with this problem.  Tried the listed fixes without success.  As an engineer this type of problem is nasty because the client expects an instant fix (as always) which adds to the job stress.  The one get out, and one of the useful features of 10, is the ability to perform an OS re-install easily(ish).  I say "ish" because the troubleshooting mode is not the easiest function to invoke on a system where the system is so fooked up (yes, 100% disk usage) that you cannot even do a ctrl-alt-delete.

    Yep, so a "refresh" did the job.  The client sometimes needs a bit of persuasion (as it loses application installations) but a purge like this is never a bad thing.  We've installed all updates and everything looks OK.  Fingers crossed.

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