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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.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
This worked perfectly for me as well. I tried several different things first (Disabling Superfetch, Prefetch, BITS, etc), none worked, then tried this and it immediately worked.
One thing. The Chrome setting that needs to be changed is now titled slightly different.
"Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly".
Very pleased that this worked.
Hi there,
Well I have the same problem as well. It's clearly visible that Skype loads the disk, however after following the steps listed above, I had no "ALL APPLICATIONS PACKAGES" line listed in the Edit section under Security, no matter how many times I repeat the steps this option is just not there for me to choose. There's only:
SYSTEM
Administrators
Users
How do I go about this? Thanks.
Great!!! It worked... Thanks a lot...
Cheers
I agree 100%. Windows 10 is broken.
I have posted before, but no one from MS has ever replied.
I have tried all the fixes and nothing helps.
I do not use Chrome and I do not have Skype installed.
I have Windows 10 on FOUR computers and ALL FOUR
are unusable for varying lengths of time (5-20 minutes). Usually shortly
after booting. Sometimes they might come out of it after rebooting a second time.
About the time you want to get some real work done, it goes into the
100% disk usage and is unusable.
It used to be both the cpu and hard drive would be at 100%,
but now it is only the HD on ALL FOUR. Something has been fixed,
but something is still broken.
Wanted to add this from another forum that has helped a lot of people on that forum:
I had this issue and it seems some others encountered the bug. What fixed it for me is going to settings, system, notifications, and turning off "show me tips about Windows." I believe that was the one causing problems, though I turned all of them off besides the app notifications. System processes went back down after a restart and haven't spiked since.
I agree 100%. Windows 10 is broken.
I have posted before, but no one from MS has ever replied.
I have tried all the fixes and nothing helps.
I do not use Chrome and I do not have Skype installed.
I have Windows 10 on FOUR computers and ALL FOUR
are unusable for varying lengths of time (5-20 minutes). Usually shortly
after booting. Sometimes they might come out of it after rebooting a second time.
About the time you want to get some real work done, it goes into the
100% disk usage and is unusable.
It used to be both the cpu and hard drive would be at 100%,
but now it is only the HD on ALL FOUR. Something has been fixed,
but something is still broken.
Some fixes worked on some of our pc's but not all of the pcs, but what FINALLY seemed to fix for good all of them was oddly enough installing the Windows 10 Anniversary update--surprise! I think they fixed this problem without discussing it specifically in this update.
