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

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.

0 comments

491 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2015-11-06T02:15:20+00:00

    I do not believe this problem will be fixed by Microsoft.

    I think the best practice would be to do what the last poster suggests, and then wait about 2-3 minutes for the hard drive to go down to a proper level, mine actually goes down even to below 10% after a few minutes.

    Windows 10 has been made by Microsoft for Solid State Drives, (SSD).  These are used in cellphones, however, very few Laptops, All-In-Ones, Towers, etc., with larger hard drive, come with SSD.  That is due to the price of SSD when they are over 256 GB. 

    Will the regular Hard Drives with the slower RPM's than an SSD wear out sooner due to this problem?

    ............

    Well I have an SSD on my system....the problem is not occasional operation at 100% disk activity (I see that at most startups)   The problem is the system hangs and  "windows not responding is displayed".  When this happens the disk shows it is 100% active but there is no evidence of any disk activity. The problem does not go away if you just let it sit (anyway not in 8hrs) the fact that the laptop stays cool is also an indication that it isn't doing anything. Hard power off is required.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2015-11-06T05:04:07+00:00

    What solution are you referring to?

    There is no single solution. It has different causes. Like i already explained  i have done several things. Because the 100% came baxk several times

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2015-11-06T08:29:47+00:00

    Its not working, I don't have skype and chrome install but system hang with 100% disk activity

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2015-11-06T12:37:37+00:00

    "...the solution is disable one or more programs/ services and see if the disk usage drops."

    Also, the Google Chrome at the top helped me with the problem.

    My problem of 100% Disk usage ALWAYS goes away in about 2 minutes.  I had no idea a person with a SSD drive was having a problem with 100% Disk usage that never goes away.  That is not the problem I am having. 

    Are these old laptops we are talking about that have new SSD drives installed?  I did have to take Windows 10 64 bit off of my old AMD Duo Core X64 laptop for heating up.

    Right now my HP Windows 10 64 bit AMD Quad Core A10 is reading 4% CPU, 26% Memory, 0% Disk, 0% Network in the Task Manager.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2015-11-06T14:03:29+00:00

    In my case the the system is a 2010 ACER laptop with AMD dual core P320 processor. The SSD was installed a year ago and works fine with windows 7.  I have the same SSD on my desktop that is running Windows 10 very nicely. I agree that when windows 10 works on my older and slower laptop that it is very nice compared to windows 7 in responsiveness.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments