100% Disk Usage with little running and even after clean boot

coopfab · 24 Jul 2023

Good morning. My computer is running extremely slowly both with little running and after doing a clean boot. Here are the things I've done so far and pertinent info about my computer:

Win10 22H2 Build 19045.3208
16GB Ram
Space available: 1051372MB
Pagefile: 9216 MB
Automatically manage paging files for all drives not ticked

Disabled Sysmain
Ran a clean boot

Attached is a screen shot of task manager showing two tabs, processes and performance, taken after doing the clean boot.

Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time and consideration. MAC

selden · 24 Jul 2023

You have two options:

1. Patiently wait for Windows to finish building the File Search Index.

2. Disable File Indexing

There's a Tutorial available at Allow File Contents and Properties to be Indexed on a Drive in Windows

User2468 · 24 Jul 2023

May I recommend what I do?

I go into the Windows Control Panel and under Administrative Tools | Services and stop and disable Windows Search. Then I use a very fast and feature rich program called Everything instead of Windows Search. (Look in my signature below).

Doing this will also help save on unnecessary writes to a flash-based drive like an SSD or NVMe.

joeandmarg0 · 24 Jul 2023

Go to Task Manager>Startup tab and disable all third party programmes and see if there is any improvement in performance.
Also see if running with Windows Defender instead of Total.av makes any difference.Defender is as good as any other.

dalchina · 25 Jul 2023

You have a problem with disk transfer rate. That's clear from the second screenshot.
I.e. the speed with which you can get data on or off disk is very limited.

Search indexing alone is NOT the cause of your slow performance - and will not be on a normally functioning PC. As such, posts #2, #3 are somewhat misleading. That's a symptom, not a cause.

I do recommend you use the default settings for paging, although with 16Gb RAM paging is probably not an issue here.

Here's your first screenshot presented using forum features (far more convenient for respondents than having to download a file):

100% Disk Usage with little running and even after clean boot-1.jpg

Here's how (tutorial available):

100% Disk Usage with little running and even after clean boot-screenshot-.png

Now looking at your screenshot, what would help is to organise the Disk Usage column high to low by clicking on the column header.

Typically when search indexing consumes resources there is a problem with the disk, files or file structure.

So,
1. Post a new task manager screenshot as above with the Disk Usage column high to low.
2. Check your disk.
Get a copy of Crystal Diskinfo (free) and run that. Instant result.
3. If ok, from an admin command prompt run
chkdsk c: /scan

Result right on the screen. Report any failure - not the whole log.

4. Also get a copy of Hard Disk Sentinel and run that- post a screenshot. Its comment can be informative. Full functional trial- portable version available.

There are several threads on tenforums on limited disk transfer rate- feel free to find and read those.

History:
When did this start?
What happened just before that?

coopfab · 25 Jul 2023

Thanks for this new information. I won't be able to report back the results for about 12 hours. MAC

dalchina · 25 Jul 2023

Just a note- the checks I've suggested may well come up clean.. but are an essential start. The causes of low transfer rate can be various and somewhat technical.

How much free space is there on C: ?

How long does a cold boot take from start to lock screen?

Pleae add details of your disk to your specs. Thanks.

coopfab · 25 Jul 2023

Hope I've covered everything.

My computer has been slow for the past months but it seemed worse starting around July 18th and on the 21st it was almost unbearable. Listed below is my computers current status hopefully reflecting all of the suggestions you have all so generously made.

Windows indexing stopped
Windows search disabled
Clean Boot
Crystaldiskinfo screenshot attached
Hard Disk Sentinel screenshot attached
Task manager screenshot with the Disk Usage column high to low attached
Total AV off, Windows Defender on
System Managed paging file. Recommended 2926 MB, currently allocated 9216 MB
From admin command prompt ran chkdsk c: /scan. Results: Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required.
Disk: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz.
System Type: 64-bit operating system,
Hard drive space: Capacity 1.81 TB; Used 842 GB; Free Space .99 TB
Cold Boot can take 5 minutes

Thanks again. Will look forward to your comments. MAC

Screen Shots Task Manager_Hard Disk Sentinel_CrystalDiskInfo.docx

joeandmarg0 · 25 Jul 2023

The purpose of disabling,in Post 4,is to determine if Win 10 is the sole cause of the slowness.
Any further suggestions would be based on the result.

zbook · 25 Jul 2023

Backup important files > replace the Intel drive

Run: Crucial scanner to view drive options:

Crucial System Scanner | Memory Upgrade Scanner | Crucial | Crucial.com