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
    2017-05-18T10:46:58+00:00

    Thank You so much for this fix! It worked!! now my disk usage stays around 5% which is great. Once again Thanks so much!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-18T11:28:31+00:00

    I'm reasonably sure this is not an application issue. The symptoms are caused by disk access failures of one sort and another. There is a sensible troubleshooting protocol at:

    http://www.thewindowsclub.com/fix-100-disk-usage-windows-10 

    and Microsoft support also have a fix for a Message Signaled Interrupt firmware bug that is worth looking at:

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3083595/task-manager-might-show-100-disk-utilization-on-windows-10-devices-with-message-signaled-interrupt-msi-mode-enabled

    Good luck

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2017-05-18T15:30:32+00:00

    The solution on this site has so far made a big improvement for me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2017-05-18T17:13:35+00:00

    Hi Well I don't know any more then I did. No one posted what the fix was. It would be nice to know what you done to fix this problem!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2017-05-18T18:15:18+00:00

    Gary,

    I come off and on to these posts to see what other people do to fix the problem.  None of the laptops at my home have these problems, and the odd thing is that laptops are older.  None of the laptops have SSD drives on them, they all start at 100% for the first 2-5 minutes and then all go down to 1%-5%.  I have McAfee Live Safe on one that will make the resources stay at 100% for about 2 minutes longer to do their scan, then it goes down.

    The four laptops with Windows 10 are all HP laptops and have HP Support Assistance on them.  One is a five year old DV-6 Pavilion, AMD A8, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB 5400 RPM.  One is a four year old Pavilion i3, 8 GB, 500 GB  5400 RPM. One is a three year old Pavilion AMD A10 8 GB RAM, 1 TB 5400 RPM.  One is a 1 year old Pavilion i3, (5th gen.), 8 GB RAM, 1 TB 5400 RPM.

    I even have an HP Stream Table, Atom processor, 2 GB, 32 GB SSD. 

    This problem does not seem to matter if the HD is a regular mechanical Hard Drive or a SSD, it seems to be something within the motherboard causing the problem between the OS and the Hard Drive.  If it were a totally a problem with Windows 10 then why would everything run well on the above laptops and tablet?  Are the manufacturers using some cheap piece of junk on the motherboard to save money?  It is pretty competitive out there!  Last quarter was a pretty good sales for computers.  HP barely beat Lenovo, Dell came in third, and Apple came in fourth.

    I have seen prices on laptops that appear to be too low for the amount of hardware the laptop is coming with.  When I go to look at OPEN BOXES, I do see more OPEN BOXES for two particular brands, however, the returns are almost all the expensive laptops, most having SSD Drives.  I think people are talking themselves into more laptop than they really need, for example:  i7 one a 13.3" Laptop is probable going to be susceptible to heat.  A 4K on a 13.3", can you really tell the difference.  An SSD Drive with a Regular Hard Drive, is it really necessary?  A 2-in-1 will have the hinges, probable break after a few years.  Most laptops come with the battery enclosed, this is an idea that people are just going to buy a new laptop in 4 years when a battery goes out. 

    Younger people love Intel, Intel is good, however, AMD has been making CPU's since 1971. 

    For an average user one does NOT need to pay more than $500 for a good laptop.  When they pay more for more stuff, are you really just getting more problems in the long run?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments