9 Tips To Fix 100% Disk Usage Issue On Your Windows PC

Did it ever happen to you that your Windows PC is not responding except for the mouse and when you open task manager by pressing “ctrl+alt+del“, you discover your system drive running at 100%? This is mostly found in Windows 10. Yes, you heard that right. Theoretically, the most advanced and optimized version of Windows has this issue. The problem, in reality, is not that you are multitasking beyond the limit or performing CPU and GPU intensive tasks but an optimization issue or bug that has crept in lately.

Honestly speaking, I never noticed the similar issue on my Windows 10 PC but since many of you Windows 10 users have been reporting this, here are a few tips that might help you this issue on your Windows 10 PC. Many even reported that it not only affected Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) but Solid State Drives (SSDs) as well.

Run Full Scan To Search For Malware

Many have reported that applications like Google Chrome, Skype, SuperFetch, Media Players etc. gave rise to disk usage issues. Some even reported that while they only listen to music and having no other application running in the background, similar issue crept in. I don’t think the media player would be responsible for keeping your hard drive busy up to its full capacity. The 100% disk usage problem might have occurred if your system is infected with some malware. In these cases, the first thing that one should do is to run a full scan of his/her PC on Windows Defender or any other similar application. If threats are found, use the software’s recommendations to discard them, and reboot, before checking your drive performance further.

Issue With Google Chrome

If you are noticing that while you are using Google Chrome with no other application running in the background, your system showcases 100% disk usage issue, follow these steps:

• Open “Google Chrome.”
• Click on the three dots icon present on the top right corner of the screen.
• Click on “Settings.”
• Click on “Show Advanced Settings.”
• Click on “Privacy.”
• Uncheck “Prefetch resources to load pages more quickly.”

Issue With SuperFetch

The following steps will help you fix 100% disk usage problem caused due to SuperFetch.

• Open Command Prompt.
• Type the following command: net.exe stop superfetch and press “Enter” key.
• Type the following command: chkdsk.exe /f /r and press “Enter” key.
• Once you are done with the 3rd step, close all the applications and reboot your device. While restarting, it will scan your local disk drives and hence, can take longer than usual while booting in.

Disable Windows Tips

• Open “Settings”.
• Click on System > Notifications & actions.
• Turn off “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows” toggle button.

Disable Windows Search

• Press “Ctrl+R”
• Type “services.msc” and press Enter key.
• Now, look for Windows Search in the list.
• Right-click the Windows Search service and go to Properties.
• Under the General tab, set the Startup type to Disabled.
• Click Ok.

Update Your Device Drivers

• Download and install Driver Easy by clicking here.
• Run “Driver Easy” and click “Scan Now” button.
• Click the “Update” button next to any flagged device to automatically download and install the correct version of that driver.

This may help you fix the issue.

PCI-Express Firmware Bug

Some Windows 10 users have reported a firmware bug in StorAHCI.sys driver. It may be creating 100% disk usage issues. In that case, the following steps will help you fix it.

• Right click on “This PC”  in the Windows Explorer and click on “Properties”>”Device Manager”.
• Inside “Device Manager”, expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.
• If an AHCI Controller entry is listed, double-click, then open the Driver tab and select Driver Details. If the driver is  C:Windowssystem32DRIVERSstorahci.sys, continue with this procedure or else stop it.
• Close “Driver Details” and switch to “Details” tab.
• Click on “Device Instant Path.” Where the Value is listed, right-click, and select Copy.
• Open any text editor and Paste the contents in it.
• Press “Windows Key+R”. In the dialog box, type regedit. Click on “OK.”
• Navigate to this address: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetEnumPCI”
• Use the pasted string above to open the correct AHCI Controller
• Expand “Device ParametersInterrupt ManagementMessageSignaledInterruptProperties”
• Double Click on MSISupported and change the “Value Data” to “0”.
• Click “OK.”
• Restart Windows.

 Reset Your Virtual Memory

• Open “Control Panel.”
• Click on “System and Security” and further click on “System.”
• Click on “Advanced System Settings” on the left panel of the window.
• Switch to the “Advanced” tab and under “Virtual memory”, Click “Change” and clear the checkbox for “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.”
• On the same screen, select your Windows Drive and click on “Custom Size.”
• Add an “initial size” and “maximum size.” Note that the maximum size should not be more than 1.5 times the actual size of your RAM.
• Once done, click “Set” and then “ok.”
• Press “Windows Key+R”.
• In the dialog box, type “temp” and press “enter” key.
• Delete all the files in the temp directory.

Resort To High-Performance Mode

If none of the above-mentioned tips and tricks workouts, try out this one.

• Open “Control Panel.”
• Go to “Hardware and Sound”>”Power Options”>”Create a Power Plan”.
• Select “High-Performance Mode.”
• Click on next and tweak other personal settings as desired.

Note that High-Performance Mode will consume more power than the standard mode. But it would not be noticeable until you are using a laptop or notebook with dated hardware specs.

These are some tips to “Fix 100% Disk Usage Issues On Windows PCs”  I hope this article works the way it is intended to be. Let us know about your experience trying out these tips an