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

My issue was resolved by removing Norton Internet Security.  After that - the problem has not returned.  I may try a reinstall of it since it was there before the upgrade.

Good effort tracking this down, I'm glad it worked for you. Unfortunately it didn't work for me.

I had this problem and I traced it down using xperf to find the culprit. Still checking it out, but I'm a novice to XPerf. This motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-P61A-D3 Rev: 2. We've a whole bunch of them, they're not that old, maybe four years and were (and look like they still will be) running Windows 7 x64.

You see THIS is what I don't get Microsoft. Your releasing an operating system that doesn't work on computers which aren't that old. The Gigabyte GA-P61A-D3's run Windows 7 x64 very smoothly. But Windows 8 doesn't work on them (even though the drivers for 8 and 8.1 are there on Gigabytes website). I get this 30 second "glitch" on all the machines running Windows 8. Windows 8.1 and now Windows 10. From minute zero its there. Even before any drivers or software goes on. The install is disgustingly long. 45 minutes+ and then eventually you land at the desktop and find loads of Microsoft junkware/bloatware/spyware/malware. Then 5 minutes into the desktop, boom, have a 35 second glitch every 4 or 5 minutes. WINDOWS 10 - BEST WINDOWS EVER.

I've tried everything, even using the bog standard Windows AHCI drivers and setting the:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\VEN_1B4B&DEV_9172&SUBSYS_B0001458&REV_11\4&7e022be&0&00E2\Device Parameters\Interrupt Management\MessageSignaledInterruptProperties\MSISupported=0

as Microsoft suggest. No go. Same problem. But hang on a minute. Because this next one MAKE ME MAD AS HELL.

What there is NO EXCUSE FOR MICROSOFT, is why this problem is SO DAMN DIFFICULT TO TRACK DOWN... and for that reason alone I don't think this operating system is anything but a big stinking pile of dangerous malware/spyware junk.

NOT SHOWN ON TASK MANAGER - 100% DISK USAGE - ALL ASSIGNED TO THE MYSTERIOUS "SYSTEM" PROCESS.

NOT SHOWN IN PROCESS MONITOR OR PROCESS EXPLORER - I SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE TO GO TO THESE, BUT MICROSOFT HAVE SO MANY BACKGROUND PROCESSES GOING ON THESE TOOLS ARE VIRTUALLY USELESS ANYWAY. TURNS OUT THEY ARE USELESS, BECAUSE I CANT TRACE IS THERE EITHER.

The fact that I have to delve DEEP into GOD DAMN DEVELOPER TOOLS to try and establish what the hell is happening on MY OWN COMPUTERS is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD - IT'S A COMPLETE JOKE. Even Intel and Gigabyte haven't bothered making drivers for it. Which kind of tells you everything you need to know.

I'm going to dedicate no more than a couple of hours of figuring this out. The PC's just needed a reload and it was "free" so I attempted the update on a few. I have a good idea that I'll be reformatting and sticking with Windows 7... and not just because of this 30 second glitch. I can see why this operating system as being "given away". It's the worst load of malware and spyware I think I've ever seen. I can't quite understand how the European data watchdog has let this thing be released. I bet the NSA's servers are very fat with everyone who's been silly enough to load this stuff.

I've been a windows user for 25+ years. This version has seriously made me look at linux as a full time OS.

Anyway, always hoping to help the frustrated Windows traveler, for ANYONE who's having performance issues on Windows 10, download these:

hxxps://dev.windows.com/en-us/downloads/windows-10-sdk

When you run the SDK installer, ONLY select the "Windows Performance Toolkit" option.

Then, this is VERY handy. UIforETW - it takes the pain out of performing a trace and gives you a nice user interface with trace management. You can get it here (I had to download this because without it, the performance analyzer simply refused to load symbols

• the option way just greyed out - and yes Microsoft - I KNOW how to set an environment variable - something in WPA is flawed:

Zip installer / extractor here (x86) and (x64) here

hxxps://github.com/google/UIforETW/releases

Right, you all set. Go forth and trace. I just installed the entire zip/installer to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\etwpackage

So run (x64):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\etwpackage\bin\UIforETW.exe

or run (x86):

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\etwpackage\bin\UIforETW32.exe

The trace file is circular, so while large - probably over a gig if you don't manage to capture the issue relatively quickly - it won't grow any larger than that - and it's saved in the default windows temp file if you use UIforETW.

Run the trace. Press Ctl+Win+C shortly after you've captured/seen a problem happening - and then load the trace (again you can launch it directly with UIforETW) into the Windows Performance Analyzer.

There are also options for Windows 8.1. Obviously you'll need the Windows 8.1 SDK instead for the performance analyzer download, but UIforETW supports 8.1 as well.

Happy graphing. Cheers Microsoft. Like we haven't got lives, we've all become developers just to get your operating system functioning.

I dont know how I missed this thread, but am having similar problems.

My 100% disk use always degenerates into a system hang with "windows not responding", however task manager shows disk and cpu activity on background processes.  I am not convinced that the 100% disk usage is actual disk usage. I/O activity is low and is a only a small percentage of what my SSD is capable of.  I have tried essentially all the solutions indicated.

    - got rid of chrome

    - got rid of skype

    - did a clean install

    - ran in safe mode (no apparent problem here)

    - disabled everything in startup

    - ran a memory test for a few hours (no issues)

    - changed antivirus programs

    - disabled network access 

    - System logs reveal nothing except "unexpected power loss due to the forced reboot"

I also have suspected something to do with sleeping and screen saver since sometime the system is essentially idle and the screen saver activates successfully, but when I type  a key to reactivate it the system is frozen, except for the cursor. 

In just about everything I have  tried , I get the feeling that it has solved the problem because it may run okay for a couple of days but then Whamo a hang and I reboot every 10 or 20 minutes for a few hours and then it miraculously resolves itself for another day or so.

Any more diagnostic suggestions would be appreciated.

Other than this I like windows 10, it works fine on my desktop but not my laptop

I just wanted to add a few more observations:

Somewhere I read that disabling the search index was a good work around to the problem. Sure enough I tried it and it worked for a couple of days. (It seems like most of the proposed solutions work for a couple of days). Then this morning some automatic updates from Microsoft got hung up  at 50% complete, with no response from anything. A reboot followed by a hang in 5 minutes,  another reboot followed by a similar hang and "this is funny" these hangs now happen at exactly 50% active disk rather than 100% with no perceived activity followed by a black screen with cursor.

I am going to try understand the SDK performance module and get it working.!!

I don't understand if Microsoft knows about these problems and is working on them , or are they the kind that refuse to acknowledge there is a problem.

But in task manager it shows "antimalware service executable" is full.......how can I fix up this problem???..please help me......