Disk reads 100% = nothing can open or run

Borg 386 · 04 Dec 2016

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

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 :).

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.

kstavert · 04 Dec 2016

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.

Borg 386 · 04 Dec 2016

kstavert said:

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.

MoxieMomma · 04 Dec 2016

Borg 386 said:

<snip>

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.

Yep.
That's been my suspicion all along.
I suspect uninstalling Adobe may have been a "true, true and unrelated" coincidence.
Common things being common, especially in light of the OP's new mention of having had someone perform remote "support", I suspect that the system could be infected.

Rather than shooting in the dark and trying this/that/other things, I suggest seeking out a bit of formal malware removal help, either here or at a reputable computer disinfection forum, where trained experts can guide you through scanning, cleanup and repair, as needed.

We can collect some basic logs here (e.g. from FRST) to give us a general idea of what's happening with the system.
But we would need to defer to someone with more expertise for formal logs analysis and cleanup.

JMHO,

MM

kstavert · 04 Dec 2016

I called Microsoft about the problems with One Drive and
their support people logged into my computer and deleted
and reinstalled One Drive and that's when the "fun" began

I'm aware of those popups and know to never calll...that the
popups are malware...

MoxieMomma · 04 Dec 2016

^^ Well, that's somewhat reassuring. You would not have been the first person to fall victim to the scammers. ^^

Having said that, I'm really not sure we are making much progress.

I had suggested a while back a trial of cleanly uninstalling Kaspersky.
Doing so would either point to KTS as the cause OR it would eliminate KTS from the problem.

My next suggestion would be to collect some basic FRST logs or Mini-ToolBox logs or ProcMon logs something, in order to get some "data". Otherwise, we can really only speculate and guess at possible causes and solutions.

MM

Borg 386 · 04 Dec 2016

kstavert said:

I called Microsoft about the problems with One Drive and
their support people logged into my computer and deleted
and reinstalled One Drive and that's when the "fun" began

I'm aware of those popups and know to never calll...that the
popups are malware...

That's good to hear, that you called them. :)

You mentioned the disk problems are stabilized, so is the 100% usage been eliminated or at least reduced?

It wouldn't hurt to get some readings off the tools MoxieMomma mentioned.