Windows 10: Disk reads 100% = nothing can open or run

4 days ago, I ran all of the security software
that was recommended to me and my computer
was clean - or so I thought.

Nothing would run - nothing would open.

I checked task manager and it showed my
disk at 100%. -

CPU also shoots up to 100% and
bounces up and down.

I ran Free Virus Scan | Online Virus Scan from ESET on all
of my computers and it found more malware/viruses, etc.

But, eset crashed before completion on each computer

I recently installed Kaspersky Internet Security on all
of my computers (NOT at all happy that it didn't catch
these malware,etc.)

Here's the list of tools that were recommended to me

msert
rkill
mbar
TFC
JRT

Somewhere in there is also MSSSTools
and end with ADW Cleaner

I ran ADW Cleaner on all computers last night - several
times and ADW reported no malware.

however, Disk keeps jumping up to 100% and CPU is
frequently high, as well (with nothing really running)

OS- Windows 10/64

Does any of this give any clues to what might be
going on on my PC?

Any recommendations on what to do next?

Thank you many bunches in advance

Karen


:)

 

Disk Usage at 100% with nothing running

My PC is running Windows 10 with the latest updates but has suddenly become unusable with disk usage staying at 100% even with nothing running and just the same processes listed in Task Manager as before the problems
started. I've tried a few suggestions found in online forums - disabling Windows Search and Superfetch, adjusting page file size, etc. but nothing has done the trick yet. I don't have any outside anti-virus software installed. I read about the potential MSI
issue but don't have IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers listed in the Device Manager. Finally, it seems to boot up normally and will have periods where the disk usage drops and it's usable but those moments are brief and it inevitably goes back up to 100% usage.

 

Disk Usage at 100% with nothing running

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, the refresh only seemed to have a temporary impact. Back up to 100% disk usage and everything shuts down to a crawl.

 

There is a good tool called Process Explorer, it's free & it will show you all the processes running, as well as other useful information. You can d/l it here & hopefully helps you see what the offending program/process is.

Process Explorer

Another scanner that it wouldn't hurt to run would be TDSSKiller to check for the possibility of rootkits.

TDSSKiller Download



Note When running TDSSKiller, launch the program, click on the blue text "Change Parameters" & check the box marked "Detect TDLFS File system." Click OK & then run the scan.

 

@kstavert, there is an option on Process Explorer you can use to check your running processes through VirusTotal to see if any are malware.

To do this, launch Process explorer, click on options, then VirusTotal.com & click Check VirusTotal.com. Accept the agreement, a new column will appear on the L side and if any suspicions processes are found, they will be in red. Click on the red numbers, which will take you to the Virus Total page & show what malware may be running.

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you many bunches...

I downloaded/ran process explorer and
it didn't find anything untoward.

Also ran Kaspersky TDSSKiller and it
also found nothing.

Still have no idea why Disk jumps to
100% and nothing will move or run...

Any other ideas? Kitty fur in the PC?
The chipmunks are running too fast?

Thank you for your help and suggestions

Karen

 

Well, if it's been a while since you cleaned it out there could be a problem there. *Wink Not unusual to find cat hair on the PC occasionally for me.

When running Process explorer, it should be showing idle time as well as how much percentage of resources are being used by processes under the CPU column. If you watch that, have a look & see if any of the processes are using resources during the jump in disk usage. That might help you track down what is doing it.

Other causes could be malware, your Anti Virus or MS programs accessing the disk to write a save file or scanning it. It's hard to say but with the explorer you have the best chance of finding what process is having high usage. Anything with a high usage during the spike in disk activity should show up there.

You've run the recommended software to scan for malware & found nothing. That doesn't mean malware isn't there, but if this is not caused by malware, then perhaps Kaspersky is the cause. Not sure if it's 100% compatible with 10, it should be by now, but I've seen some posts in the past suggesting it has/had problems.

 

4 Tips to Fix 100% Disk Usage Improve Windows Performance


Win10 is noted for causing high disk usage. The above link worked for me, though my issues were not as severe as yours seem. You can google "high disk usage Win10" for more info.

You may want to remove (at least temporarily) Kaspersky to see if it makes a difference. Doing a Reset and saving your files may be a final option.

 

Hi:

1) What product and version of Kaspersky are you running -- KAV/KIS/KTS and 2016 or 2017?

2) Also, did you fully and cleanly remove any/all prior AV and Security Suite software (using the vendor's removal tool) before you installed Kaspersky?
(KL products are quite finicky about leftovers and remnants -- especially drivers -- of other AVs and incompatible security programs.)

3) What other real-time security applications do you have (anti-malware, anti-exploit, etc.)?

Thanks,
MM

 

Thank you many bunches for this info...

Learning lots of wonderful things to fix the strangled
computer and now, just learned some things about why
my amazing, (used to be) superfast SSD is also limping
along *Smile

On the machine that has 100% disc usage, there
are a whole lot of this sort of thing at the top of
task scheduler:
{85497B30-C5C0-4714-A4BE-4F052EAA024B

Two are for adobe acrobat and adobe flash (I
thought that flash was going to be gone by
Windows 10???) I do not use Acrobat at all.
Should I disable Flash?

there are no disc defrags set.

a bunch of Google Update taks.....

I was told that, when I installed Kaspersky, Windows
Security (mssessentials) would just cease..

it was the only AntiVirus I was using at the time...
kept getting virus infections so, Windows Security
was not doing its job. Not any more impressed with
Kaspersky, either ;(

anyone have any anti virus software recommendations?

Kaspersky is rather a PITB (or, PITA)

On to more investigating... thank you so very much

Karen

 

Kaspersky is Total Security 17.0.0.611

Just purchased at the end of October 2016

Didn't uninstall msssessentials ... was told that
it's part of the OS of Windows 10???

Kaspersky is now the only real time "protection"
my computers have...

I'm definitely open to suggestions... having to
stop using any of my computers because they are
infected takes way too much time out of my days...

thank you
Karen

 

As you are on Windows 10, I think you refer to Windows Defender, the built-in anti-virus that comes with Win10?
(Microsoft Security Essentials is a similar, "standalone" MS AV, but it's not for Win10.)

When you installed KTS, it ought to have disabled WD during the installation process.
However, there was an update to WD (perhaps with Win10 Anniversary Update) that configures WD to run "background" scans even when there's another installed AV. This is not supposed to conflict with 3rd-party AVs.

You still might want to check that WD is fully disabled.
Here's how:
Windows Defender - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

If you are having problems with multiple computers in the same household, then that suggests that there is something they all have in common, such as a netoworking problem (including hardware, such as a shared router or modem), or perhaps a 3rd-party application installed on all of them, or even malware.

For the record, KAV/KIS/KTS run just fine under Win10.
However, for troubleshooting purposes, it's not unreasonable to fully uninstall KTS temporarily.
You may want to make it a full, clean uninstall, including even activation data.
Make sure you have your license info handy and available before you uninstall, because the clean removal will wipe that info from the computer. You will need to re-enter it later when/if you reinstall KTS.

When you uninstall KTS, you might have to turn WD back on, in order to have real-time AV protection.
Sometimes, WD doesn't turn itself back on, especially if the 3rd-party AV is not fully removed.
Here's help with that:
Windows Defender - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums
Windows Defender Real-time Protection - Turn On or Off in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

If the problem resolves with KTS uninstalled, then you have your explanation (although I think it's unlikely).
If the problem remains with KTS uninstalled, then deeper work will be needed -- this will likely entail collecting some basic diagnostic logs from the system. As we are not in front of your computer, the logs help us to have a "peek" at what might be going on. That often facilitates guidance as to how to proceed (malware cleanup, system configuration changes, hardware fixes, conflicting software removal, etc.).
I suspect that this might be malware-related, but we don't have enough data at this point to say for sure.

Those are just my inexpert recommendations.

Thanks,
MM

 

Turns out I have encountered this problem before with slow system performance when Adobe Acrobat is running in the background. It made my PC freeze when it launched itself for a program & didn't shut down afterward. Caused all kinds of delays. After the 2nd time it did that, I had enough & removed it.

More then likely it launches in the background every time you boot your PC. You can terminate the process through Process explorer (R click on Adobe Acrobat, select kill process) & if you no longer get spikes or problems, that's one problem eliminated.

To keep it from starting at boot up, go to the tutorial (link posted below) to see how to disable it from start up. Unfortunately, you will probably have to do this after every Adobe update because it likes to set itself to startup every time one of those updates happen *Mad

Since you say you don't use Acrobat, you can also uninstall it if you wish. Should you have the need for a PDF reader down the road, there are better alternatives available that aren't system resource heavy. Sumatra PDF is a good choice & it's free *Smile.

Startup Items - Add, Delete, Enable, Disable in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Also, any other unnecessary start up programs can be disabled.

Flash should be running in your browser & not be using too many resources that it causes delays, although flash can freeze up at times. Make sure you have the latest version to be sure you aren't being hit by any exploits.


Internet Explorer - ActiveX 23.0.0.207 Internet Explorer (embedded - Windows 8.1) - ActiveX 23.0.0.207 Edge (embedded - Windows 10) - ActiveX 23.0.0.207 Firefox - NPAPI 23.0.0.207 Chrome (embedded) - PPAPI 23.0.0.207 Opera, Chromium-based browsers - PPAPI 23.0.0.207

Flash for your browser is your personal choice, not all sites use HTML 5 so if you disable flash, you may not be able to see all sites. Flash can be disabled, if you so choose, in your browser settings.

 

I have uninstalled Adobe acrobat =- still have Air
and Flash Player. Do I NEED to have flash player?

On a different note....

One Drive just about consumed my main computer

For some reason, One Drive just kept making copies
of all sorts of files on my computer and filled up my
internal drive and my external drive... had also started
on my cloud drive...

Microsoft "support" logged into my computer to "fix"
the problem and each time, just made it worse

Scared the crap out of me... I didn't realize what was
happening... I kept throwing files away because I had
no place to move them... then, finally found folders
with dozens and dozens of the same files.

I have been looking for information on how to delete
one drive.

It is a dangerous 'tool'..... don't know why Microsoft
had to reinvent how "dropbox" type storage had to
"work".

Back to the 100% disc... it seems to have stabilized.

 

As I mentioned, some sites do not support HTML5, so if Flash was needed to view them, then you wouldn't be able to.

When you say MS helped you, did you call them or did you get a pop up or a phone call saying your PC was infected or the license was about to expire?

Be aware that MS will NOT contact you about viruses & your license on Windows never expires. Any call or pop up you may have gotten with a supposed MS tech support number is a scam.

If you were contacted or called a number on a pop up, then it's hard to say what they may have done/put to your PC.