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
    2016-08-18T01:46:18+00:00

    This sounds like you are enabling a potential vulnerability.

    Allowing write access to all apps with respect to Skype?

    Skype who is the constant target of all kinds of malicious activity?

    I don't use mine, so I'll simply remove it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-08-16T16:07:12+00:00

    Greetings, just giving my two cents as this is the only forum on this issue that still gets posted on.

    Firstly, my rig for info:

    Intel i7-6700k cpu

    MSI Gaming M7 Z170 Motherboard

    32gb 2400mhz Ram

    Seagate 2tb SSHD Hybrid Drive

    GTX 970 GPU

    System built in Ocober 2015

    I started experiencing this problem after the anniversary update, so naturally I assumed the problem was down to this update. Everything worked perfectly prior to then. So I was surprised to find that this is at least a year old problem that has, to date, not been fixed. I find this unacceptable.

    I have tried pretty much every suggested solution, including but not limited to:

    1. A Clean Install
    2. Disable Superfetch/other suggested services
    3. Disable MSI
    4. Switch off Notifications/Windows Tips
    5. Disk Defrag/Clean up/Error check
    6. Virus Scan
    7. Changed Anti-Virus and tried with just Windows Defender
    8. Switching power plan to Performance mode and setting Hard Drive to never sleep

    I've even tried using the O&OShutUp10 third party software which disables certain Windows features

    The only thing left to try is to buy a new hard drive.

    Some of these solutions helped only temporarily. After a couple of days my disk activity went back to 100%.

    Seriously though, something is very wrong if we are having to disable services, mess around with the registry, etc, just to make Windows function to any kind of satisfactory standard.

    It seems these solutions (which may work for some people), are only masking and not curing which is clearly an underlying serious problem with Windows 10.

    Can someone from Microsoft give an update as to what they are doing (if anything at all) about this mess?

    In it's current state, and I don't feel I'm being unreasonable saying this, Windows 10 is broken.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-08-16T07:02:35+00:00

    After 11 days I can safely say I found a fix that is reproducible and lasts.

    • DIsable MSI mode: https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/kb/3083595
    • Install chipset (IDE/AHCI ACPI) drivers by chipset vendor (in my case AMD) - radeon-crimson-16.7.3-sb-sata-ahci-win10-win8.1-win7-64bit + install IDE / AHCI ACPI driver manually (choose manually from disk)
    • Install 3rd party virus scanner (360)
    • Disable Windows tipps and tricks notification
    • Disable most background apps (Settings > privacy)

    My chipset is an AMD 970/SB950 + SSD Crucial M500 that reproduces this 100% hdd problem on a fresh install, even with a second SSD of the same type (without any other HDDs around = all data on system partition).

    I think it's the combination of chipset drivers for AHCI/ACPI and MSI mode on some chipsets / SSDs.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-08-15T19:16:01+00:00

    There is only one real solution. Either Microsoft fix this ****, or go back to Windows 8, 7 Vista, Linux or whatever else you can.

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-08-15T17:02:38+00:00

    The disk usage remains at 100% in safe boot mode with networking even with all non Microsoft services turned off.  It must be a Microsoft service that is causing the problem.

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