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Disk problem at 100%

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EmiMylse Posted messages 5 Status Member -  
Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention   -
Hello,

I’m posting on this forum because I’ve been facing a problem for quite a while now, and it has been intensifying lately, but I still haven’t found a solution: the disk usage at 100% in the Windows 10 task manager.

The main culprit for this high usage is often a System application or ntoskrnl.exe, accompanied by the program currently running on the computer (Firefox, Skype, Spotify, etc.). Strangely, the disk sometimes spikes to 100% for a usage of 0.5 MB/s (which doesn’t seem huge to me) and sometimes does not move for a much heavier usage (5.0 MB/s, for example).

I know that this problem is encountered by many Windows 10 users, but none of the solutions I found online seem to resolve it (or only slightly improve the situation). Here is a list of solutions I have already tried, without success:

- Disabling Superfetch, Windows Update, Windows Defender
- Disabling indexing
- Disabling fast startup
- Scanning with several antivirus programs (Norton, Malwarebytes, etc.)
- Running a scan with scannow
- Updating drivers, etc.
- Changing the hard drive (followed by a clean installation of Windows 10)

In short, I feel I’ve reached the limit of what I can do :( If a kind soul is willing to help me, I would be more than grateful!

By the way, here’s my configuration:
Windows 10
64-bit System
Intel Core i5 Processor
8.00 GB of RAM

2 answers

  1.
    Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention   24 712
     
    Hello,

    look in the resource monitor to see: https://www.malekal.com/le-moniteur-de-ressources-de-windows/
    disk section, what is being written or read.

    and:

    Follow the FRST tutorial. (take your time to read carefully - everything is well explained).

    Download and run the FRST scan,
    Wait for the scan to finish, a message indicates that the analysis is complete.

    Three FRST reports will be generated:
    • FRST.txt
    • Shortcut.txt
    • Additionnal.txt


    Send these 3 reports to the website https://pjjoint.malekal.com/ to share them.
    In return, provide the 3 pjjoint links that lead to the reports here in a new response so that we can consult them.

    --
    Please press a key to continue the disinfection...
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    1. EmiMylse Posted messages 5 Status Member
       
      Good evening,

      Thank you very much for your quick response!

      For the resource monitor, here is a screenshot of it without any apparent issues (disk around 6/7%):
      http://www.mediafire.com/file/dtoo7jb3ejbt6v2/Moniteur_de_ressources_sans_probl%25C3%25A8mes.png/file

      And a screenshot of the monitor with the disk at 100% (with just opening Spotify):
      http://www.mediafire.com/view/ar714b4ca12cy12/moniteur%20de%20ressources%20disque%20100.png

      Next, for the Frst reports, here they are:

      FRST: https://pjjoint.malekal.com/files.php?id=FRST_20180422_x10u5u5x14n6

      Addition: https://pjjoint.malekal.com/files.php?id=20180422_c8y11g11t9v13

      Shortcut: https://pjjoint.malekal.com/files.php?id=20180422_x12u9z6n9c6

      I hope all the links are correct! Normally, I followed the tutorial to the letter, but well ^^'
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  2. Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention   24 712
     
    On your screenshots, the disk usage doesn't seem too bad.
    However, the disk activity is sorted by the I/O Priority column.
    So we can't tell what has written or read the most.

    Did you buy Norton?
    If not, uninstall it.

    Have you checked if there are updates downloading?

    You have programs that were installed when you bought the computer or installed later that may not be useful.
    They clutter Windows and can slow it down.
    You can uninstall them.
    Go to the Control Panel
    then Programs and Features.
    Uninstall:

    CCleaner
    Dropbox (unless you are syncing with it)


    PS: CCleaner isn't really useful, even if it's recommended everywhere.
    Disable CCleaner monitoring, unnecessary, it launches at Windows startup and slows it down with its incessant cleanups, see: https://www.malekal.com/supprimer-ccleaner-demarrage-windows/

    Here is the fix to perform with FRST. You can refer to this explanatory note with screenshots.
    Restart FRST then on your keyboard press CTRL + Y.
    The notepad will open, copy/paste this. 

    CreateRestorePoint:
    CloseProcesses:
    Task: {DF892955-E2C7-4EB9-8B0F-1CFD820961DB} - System32\Tasks\update-sys => C:\Program Files (x86)\Skillbrains\Updater\Updater.exe [2017-04-12] (TODO: <Company name>)
    HKU\S-1-5-21-2706040363-1478967892-1994775970-1001\...\Run: [CCleaner Monitoring] => C:\Program Files\CCleaner\CCleaner64.exe [9818328 2017-06-30] (Piriform Ltd)
    HKU\S-1-5-21-2706040363-1478967892-1994775970-1001\...\Run: [Skype] => C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\Skype.exe [27831240 2018-03-13] (Skype Technologies S.A.)
    HKU\S-1-5-21-2706040363-1478967892-1994775970-1001\...\Run: [Spotify] => C:\Users\eloos\AppData\Roaming\Spotify\Spotify.exe [22454160 2018-04-07] (Spotify Ltd)
    HKU\S-1-5-21-2706040363-1478967892-1994775970-1001\...\Run: [uTorrent] => C:\Users\eloos\AppData\Roaming\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe [2148024 2018-02-26] (BitTorrent Inc.)
    HKLM\...\Run: [iTunesHelper] => C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe [303928 2017-07-14] (Apple Inc.)
    HKLM\...\Run: [AdobeAAMUpdater-1.0] => C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\UWA\UpdaterStartupUtility.exe [508128 2016-07-01] (Adobe Systems Incorporated)
     HKLM-x32\...\Run: [PivotSoftware] => C:\Program Files (x86)\Portrait Displays\Pivot Software\wpctrl.exe [694824 2009-03-03] () 
     HKLM-x32\...\Run: [DT HPC] => C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Portrait Displays\Shared\DT_startup.exe [122384 2014-06-27] (Portrait Displays, Inc.) 
     RemoveProxy:
    Reboot:


    Save the content from the file menu and then save.

    Close the notepad, return to FRST and click the "Fix" button.
    A restart may be necessary and automatic.
    A text file will appear, copy/paste the content here in a new message.

    Restart the computer.

    --
    Please press a key to continue the disinfection...
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    1. EmiMylse Posted messages 5 Status Member
       
      Hello,

      Thank you for your response!

      Following your advice, I uninstalled CCleaner and Dropbox (which I can still use on the website as an alternative). I also elegantly uninstalled 2/3 applications that I no longer needed.

      Regarding Norton, we did buy a subscription and it is installed on two computers. However, since it often appears at the top of the list of programs using the disk, wouldn't it be more beneficial to uninstall it and use another antivirus for this computer (Windows Defender or another)?

      For updates, it seems to me that none are currently being installed because I always ask the programs or the system to notify me before taking this action.

      After the fix with FRST, here is the generated report (I believe this is the correct one since no window opened after the restart, I followed the tutorial you sent me):

      Fix: https://pjjoint.malekal.com/files.php?id=20180422_p10c9h9m14u13

      After this fix, I noticed a slight improvement as the disk, while still spiking quite high, seems now to stabilize around 80/90% for a bit less time. Here are the resource monitor captures after the fix (hoping this time they are the correct ones >.<)

      Resource monitor sorted by read:
      http://www.mediafire.com/view/rrdiv52dwld2tr0/moniteur%20de%20ressource%20lecture.png

      Resource monitor sorted by write:
      http://www.mediafire.com/view/z37vh5szu7hdzhf/moniteur%20de%20ressource%20%E9criture.png

      By searching a bit on my side, I discovered that my event viewer seemed to count numerous errors and I was wondering if this was normal or could be related to the problem:

      Event viewer:
      http://www.mediafire.com/file/rq4fdtmnbn1l081/Observateur_d%2527%25C3%25A9v%25C3%25A8nements.png/file

      Have a good day!
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      1. Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention   24 712 > EmiMylse Posted messages 5 Status Member
         
        Personally, I think you could have kept Windows Defender without buying Norton.
        If you don't do anything reckless and have at least a minimum knowledge of malware, that's enough by following a few other rules.

        To avoid viruses, you need to know how hackers go about infecting computers: How computer viruses are distributed

        1) How to protect against malicious scripts on Windows

        2) Windows Firewall: the right settings

        3) ublock on your internet browser


        ~~

        For the disk, there’s Spotify, which uses quite a bit, but nothing really extraordinary.
        What happens if you turn off Spotify?
        Otherwise, try testing for an hour or two without Norton and reinstall it as you bought it to see if it's not the issue.
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      2. EmiMylse Posted messages 5 Status Member > Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention  
         
        Hello!

        I'm getting back to you after a day of testing with the fixes applied.

        My computer seems to be running much better! Disk usage still peaks around 70% when opening lightweight programs and about 90% for heavier ones, but after just a few seconds, it goes back down to normal until closing the program, where the same action repeats, but again only for a few seconds. I've even noticed an improvement in the processor and memory, especially when using very demanding programs!

        However, I've decided to keep Norton because it feels more "secure" than Windows Defender (that's my paranoid side) and it didn't seem to bother me much afterwards. I also applied the tips from the articles for an extra layer of protection ^^

        In any case, I really wanted to thank you for all the time and advice you have given me! I had even forgotten that my PC could be this fast haha ^^

        So I'm marking the topic as resolved, thanking you a thousand times more! :)
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      3. Malekal_morte- Posted messages 178136 Registration date   Status Moderator, Security Contributor Last intervention   24 712 > EmiMylse Posted messages 5 Status Member
         
        As you prefer, no worries =)
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