In case your computer has become painfully slow, freezes and hangs up frequently, it is likely that you are dealing with High Disk Usage on your computer. You will find below the steps to fix 100% Disk Usage in Windows 10.
100% Disk Usage in Windows 10
Typically 100% Disk Usage in Windows 10 leads to a painfully slow computer, even though you only have few programs open on your computer.
To confirm, whether your computer is suffering from High Disk Usage, right-click on the Start button and click on Task Manager.
On the Task Manger Screen, click on the Processes tab and take a look at the Disk column.
Your computer is suffering from 100% Disk Usage, if the Disk Column is marked Red in colour and you are looking at high disk usage number (88 ~ 100%).
You will find below a number of solutions to fix 100% Disk usage in Windows 10. Depending on your case, you may only need a few of these solutions to fix High Disk Usage problem on your computer.
1. Prevent Skype From Running in Background
By default, the Skype program starts automatically with your computer and stays active in the background, using up resources on your computer.
In general, you should be able to see considerable reduction in Disk Usage just by preventing Skype from starting automatically on your computer.
For this you can follow steps as provided in this article: How to Stop Skype From Running in Background in Windows 10
2. Disable Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
Get Tips, Tricks and Suggestions feature in Windows 10 has been linked to slowing down of computer by some users.
1. Go to Settings > System > Notifications & actions and disable Get tips, tricks, and suggestions option.
2. Restart your computer and you may be surprised to see it running faster than before.
3. Change Chrome Settings
Chrome Browser has been caught using high resources. You can easily prevent Chrome from using high resources on your computer by disabling its Prediction service.
1. Open Chrome Browser on your computer > click on 3 dots icon > Settings in the drop-down menu.
2. On the Chrome Settings screen, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on Advanced.
3. Scroll down to “Privacy & Security” section and disable the option to Use Prediction service to load pages more quickly.
4. Change File Explorer Options
1. Right-click on Start > File Explorer
2. On the File Explorer screen, click on View > Options.
3. On the next screen, click on the Search tab and uncheck Don’t use index, Include Compressed files, Always search file names options
4. Click on OK to save this setting on your computer.
5. Disable Windows Search
Windows Search can use a lot of system resources, especially if it goes into a search loop or runs constantly in the background.
To see if Windows search is causing 100% Disk Usage, disable Windows search on a temporary basis and see if this helps.
Open Task Manager > expand Microsoft Windows Search Indexer > right-click on Windows Search and click on Stop.
If you find the Disk Usage Percentage going down after disabling Windows Search, you can consider disabling Windows Search on a permanent basis.
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on Run.
2. In the Run command window, type services.msc and click on OK.
3. On the next screen, right-click on Windows Search and click on Properties.
4. On Windows Search Properties screen, set Startup Type to Disabled.
5. Click on Apply and OK to save these changes on your computer.
6. Disable SuperFetch Service
While the SuperFetch Service in Windows 10 can improve the performance of certain applications, it is associated with High Disk Usage and known to cause problems on older and budget computers with 4 GB or less RAM.
1. Open Run Command > type services.msc and click on OK.
2. On the next screen, right-click on SuperFetch and click on Properties.
3. On the SuperFetch Properties screen, set the Startup type to Disabled.
4. Click on OK to save this setting on your computer.
7. Change Virtual Memory Management Settings
1. Right-click on This PC and click on Properties.
2. On the next screen, click on Advanced system settings
4. On System Properties screen, click on Advanced > Settings button in Performance section (See image below).
5. On the performance Options screen, click on Advanced > Change button in Virtual Memory section.
6. On the Virtual Memory screen, uncheck Automatically manage option, check System Managed size option and click on OK.
Make sure you Restart the computer for above changes to be implemented.
8. Disable MSI Mode in StorAHCI.sys Driver
If you are facing 100% Disk usage on a Windows 10 PC with SDD drive, the problem could be due to a firmware bug that prevents SSD drives from completing input/output requests.
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on Device Manager.
2. On the Device Manager screen, expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers > right-click on Standard SATA AHCI Controller and click on Properties.
3. On the next screen, click on Driver > Driver Details.
4. If you see storachi.sys on the Driver Details Window, will have disable MS Mode for the Driver by using Registry Editor fix mentioned on Microsoft’s support page.
9. Check For Viruses and Malware
Presence of Viruses and Malware on your computer can cause a variety of problems, including 100% Disk Usage Error.
Hence, make sure that the Antivirus program on your computer is up to date. Also, make use of Microsoft’s free Malware Removal Tool to scan for Malware and fix problems on your computer.
10. Check Hard Drive For Errors
The problem of 100% Disk Usage in Windows 10 could also be due to problems with the Hard drive.
1. Right-click on the Start button and click on PowerShell Admin or (Command Prompt Admin) option.
2. On the PowerShell window, type chkdsk.exe /f /r and press the Enter key on the keyboard of your computer. If you are prompted to schedule volume to be checked on next restart, type Y
3. Close the PowerShell Window, Restart your computer and patiently wait for Windows to scan the Hard drive for errors and repair bad sectors (if any).
Note: This process can take a very long time (5 to 12 hours or more).
