Windows 10: Source of 100% disk usage?

Hello,

I would greatly appreciate any help you might offer solving a recent problem with my computer. Over the past few days my disk usage has been run up to 100% and I cannot seem to fix it. It is causing very significant performance issues in an otherwise brand-new computer purchased about three weeks ago.
Specs:
Dell Inspiron 17
Intel Core i7-7500U @2.70 GHz
16.0 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 940MX
WebRoot SecureAnywhere antivirus

Two days ago I was browsing the internet and installing/uninstalling several media management programs (aTube catcher, MediaMonkey). My system began to run very slowly, so I closed all programs one by one and restarted the computer. I was stuck at the "Getting Windows ready - do not turn off your computer." screen for about an hour before the computer actually started again. I checked the task manager to see if the performance had been fixed, and found disk usage to be sitting at 99%, with other parameters normal. I suspect culprit has to be somewhere in the "Service Host: Local System" or "System" processes, as they are the first to jump to the top of the list in terms of disk use. (See attachments)
Since then, I have done the following:

• Disabled the "Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)" and "Superfetch" services, turned off most Windows sharing options. I searched for initial solutions to this problem and the method of disabling these kept coming up. I also changed both of these options' values in the registry editor to keep them from activating themselves, but they appear to still be running. (See attachments) This initially brought me back down to regular disk usage percentages, but as of this morning I have returned to 99%.
• Ran full system scans with avast! antivirus, including a boot-time scan. Created an avast! restore on a flash drive.
• Checked that Windows and all drivers are up to date.
• Disabled non-critical startup programs that were slowing down the computer. (See attachments)
• Uninstalled "crapware" (Bonjour, a Steam game, etc.)
• Created a restore point for the system when it appeared to have returned to regular percentages. I would go back to this point, but nothing has changed with my system since creating it and I still ended up at 99%. If I had to do a total system restore to factory condition I would not be set back too far, but I would like to avoid it if possible.
• Uninstalled avast! Free antivirus assuming it was conflicting with WebRoot and draining resources. No result. I've used avast! for years without much issue but the free WebRoot subscription that came with this computer was touted as being very lightweight. Does not appear to have helped.

I have been very safe in terms of browsing since getting this computer and would like to restore the speed to what it was. If the problem is in the processes (BITS and/or Superfetch), perhaps I can resolve the issue by getting the values in the registry editor to stay at 0, disabling them.

Please let me know any thoughts or methods you might have in resolving this, and thank you very much for your time!

:)

 

how to work up 99% or 100% disk found in task manager when computer is extremely sluggish

At times this computer (windows 10 pro version 1607 x64) becomes sluggish and viewing task manager displays 99% or 100% disk.

Today I opened the resource meter and this was its view moments ago::

disk 99 percent november 15 2016.PNG

The disk is now 0%. At the time of the 99% or 100% disk the CPU and RAM were 4% and 8% respectively.

There were multiple browsers open as well as software earlier in the day. Windows update had been run as well as windows defender earlier in the day. Clean boot was used on numerous boots including the last one today. Ccleaner routinely runs without problems
and when it was running extremely slow I viewed task manager then resource meter. Then I recorded the information with the snipping tool.

Too often the disk remains at 99% or 100% for long periods of time and requires a reboot.

Sometimes even after a reboot it may display 99% or 100% disk in task manager.

SFC /scannow displayed no integrity violations

Dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth completed successfully.

So far I have been using clean boot: win + r then msconfig then services then hide all Microsoft services then un-check all remaining items. Even with selective boot this 99% or 100% repetitively happens.

Was anything found in the resource meter that can be used to work up and fix the 99% or 100% disk? Is it some hidden item that is not displayed in task manager or resource monitor that is producing the 100% disk?

With it running in clean boot is the source a Microsoft item?

What other steps would be helpful to work up this 99% or100% disk problem and fix it?

 

Unistack Service constantly at 100% disk usage

Unistack
Service constantly at 100% disk usage

Please help me

 

For starters upgrade to Creators Update. It is probably the best to download ISO and run it from HDD.

Windows 10 Creators Update available through the Update Assistant - - Windows 10 Forums

 

Hello TairikuOkami,

Thank you for getting back to me. I just want to be sure I have these selections right before going through with installation so I don't worsen the problem. Please let me know if the below is correct:

 

You should probably use Home+Pro version, single language is rarely used and it would not activate.

 

I had this issue and disabling Superfetch and Windows Search services fixed it for me. I still see 99% usage at startup, but is usually comes down after two to three minutes.

 

TairikuOkami, I have installed and am now using the Home+ Pro version. It seems like the Creators update is also running. Disk usage is down a little and watching it on the task manager causes it to rise up to a little over 60%. This now seems to point out a few specific processes (Superfetch?) that could be causing the slowdown. Where should I go from here?

tracit99, I agree with disabling those two. It did help after the first restart, but for whatever reason what I entered into the registry editor was keeping them from staying disabled. I will likely have to re-disable them with this new installation. How did you keep your settings from reactivating themselves?

 

You should disable superfetch service.

sc config SysMain start= disabled
net stop SysMain /y

 

The way I do this is to go to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Services and applications>Services and set Superfetch and Windows Search to disabled. They should remain disabled even after restart.

 

Assuming those are to be input into the command prompt, the following appears:

For "sc config SysMain start= disabled": [SC] OpenService FAILED 5: Access is denied.
For "net stop SysMain /y": System error 5 has occurred. Access is denied.

I disabled and stopped Superfetch in Services and tried the commands again. "sc config SysMain start=disabled" gets me the same error, but "net stop SysMain /y" now gives: The Superfetch service is not started. More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 3521.
I'm assuming that there's still nothing to stop Superfetch from turning itself back on at startup, what should I do now?

Edit: I'll check on the status of Superfetch, BTI and Windows Search after an update and see what %'s I am averaging.

 

That is the same, if it is not started, it is OK, do you still have high HDD usage after restart?

 

Going Only by the pic showing the Ask Toolbar Notifier I think I'd start by running SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes. That should remove the Crapware but if You're still having problems You may need to run rKill and/or one or more of the four other programs at the bottom of this page: Download RKill Then I'd remove Webroot and go with Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Pro to keep it from happening again.


ADDED: Unchecky - Keeps your checkboxes clear helps but is unfortunately no where near 100% effective. It's up to the User to read and uncheck boxes that add Bloat and other Unwanted or Needed garbage.

 

It seems to have helped a lot, yes. As with tracit99, disk usage is at 100% for just a few minutes following startup (attachment). One of the processes in this initial "surge" is BTI, so I will also disable that too. I can live with that.

Levels fall to between 0-20% after that initial period, but do fluctuate as I use the computer. For example, clicking a link while using Firefox bumps me up to the 40%'s (attachment). Should I try and fix this?
Are fluctuations normal while using programs, and if so, would I experience high usage with a program that runs continually (media streaming/gaming)?

Once that settles down, usage falls to 0%. However, the CPU seems to lock itself in at 36-37%. This seems odd since all that is running is Firefox and I am using an i7 processor. You can see on the old attachments that before installing this new Windows it never usually went above 10%. Can this be lowered?

 

Thanks for the recommendations Bat 1, I will try each. Can you provide a link for Superantispyware that you trust? The ones I am finding look a little sketchy. Thanks!