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
    2015-11-20T18:49:30+00:00

    I have a 1 year old, HP Pavilion AMD A-10, Windows 10, 64 bit, 8 GB RAM, and a 1 TB Hard Drive.  After 2 minutes my Hard Drive usage goes down to almost 0.  After 5 minutes, right now, when I look at Task Manager my Hard Drive is fluctuating between 5%-8%.

    The Microsoft Store installed Windows 10 on my laptop.  The laptop first after the install was staying at 100% for 10 minutes, and then would go down from there.  They kept it for 1 week.  After I took it home, it was going at 100% for 10 minutes and then go down to the 5%-8%.  Doing that Google trick as the 1st poster suggested lowered the 100% to 2 minutes, and then it drops almost to 0%.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-11-22T22:05:23+00:00

    I'm at my wits end with this problem.

    Here are my specs:

    Toshiba Satelitte Pro L745 Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30 GHz 8 GB of RAM 64 Bit Operating System 600 GB Hard drive (with about 500GB still free)

    From the moment my computer boots up it is at 100% Disk usage, non stop which causes severe lagging on my computer. The main programs that seem to be eating up the disk drive usage are System and Service host: Local System. However, Google Chrome will rotate in the mix every couple of seconds whenever I have the browser opened.

    I've read several articles and have tried disabling Superfetch, Backgorund Intelligent Transfer, and Windows Search, all to no avail. I've also disabled the box that allows Windows to offer tips as I've read this could be using up disk space. I also manually updated the virtual memory to the appropriate size for my 8GB of RAM.

    In addition I completely restored Windows 10, and the problem was still there after the restore. I've ran several registry cleaners, disk defraggers, with no luck.

    I would like to point out though that my Windows Update has been unable to successfully update since the problem started. I shut down the Windows Update to see if that was causing the problem, but that did not work either.

    When I run a disk check on my C: drive, windows tell me there are errors that need to be fixed upon restart. After restarting windows, the computer states there are still errors and again states it needs to restart. However, every time i restart the computer, the error is never fixed.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-23T03:01:21+00:00

    That Toshiba is a pretty good laptop.  I do not understand why Windows 10 does not run on it correctly either...

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-11-24T07:58:13+00:00

    So basically, there is no real fix for this problem? I have a Lenovo G50-80, core i5, 6gRAM, less than one year old. It performed like magic with Windows 8, then with 8.1. THEN came Windows 10 and poof! 100% disk usage spiking constantly, PC is becoming unusable. The same thing happened to my 2-year-old Dell, core i3, 4gRAM. Sure, it was a little sluggish, it was only i3, but still, a decent-enough machine. "Upgraded" to W10, performance slowly degraded, 100% disk usage constantly, and finally the drive blew. I'm working right now to offload my files from the Lenovo so I can do a factory reset back to W8 and cross my fingers that the Lenovo isn't ruined.

    As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft owes me one, perhaps two, laptops. Totally irresponsible to release an OP that destroys machines. I'm hoping there will be a class-action lawsuit soon. Save your receipts, people, and be ready to sign on.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-11-24T14:24:57+00:00

    Just to say it - I am hearing Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba a lot here.  Is anybody here having a lasting problem with this on a HP, Asus, or Acer?

    I mean, I have a HP with an AMD A10 chip, 5400 RPM hard drive, Windows 10 64 Bit, just over a year old, and right now it is reading 2%-3%.  It starts at 100%, but comes down rather rapidly.

    I would be pretty upset also.

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