Windows 8 / Windows 8.1 100% Disk Usage – Possible Fixes

*UPDATE* This now stands for Windows 10 as well. You’re probably landing here by searching that as well anyway, so read on. Hopefully these can help.

If, like me, you’ve used Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 then you’ll know that once you get used to it, it’s quite good. Yes, there are some bad parts, some annoying parts and some parts that seem pointless. But then, doesn’t every operating system? Anyway, to the point.

Windows 8 100% Disk Usage

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 for some people, has a very annoying and disruptive problem that Microsoft don’t seem willing to fix, and no matter how many forums you look on, nothing is conclusive. I’d like to be able to issue a sweeping fix that resolves it on your computer, but I can’t. Instead, here’s a few “fixes” or, “workarounds” if you like, that have solved it on some machines I’ve come across.

None of these are ideal, and in my own machine, I re-installed Windows 8.1 and fingers crossed it’s behaved since.

Disable Superfetch and Windows Search Services

  1. Press Windows Key + R
  2. Type in “services.msc” without the quotes, press enter
  3. Find Superfetch in the list, double click it
  4. Press “Stop”
  5. Then change the startup type to “Disabled”
  6. Go to the Recovery tab, and choose all three options to be “Take no action”
  7. Repeat steps 3 – 6 for Windows Search
  8. Close and restart
  9. Cross fingers, hope it solves it

Disable BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service)

  1. Press Windows Key + R
  2. Type in “services.msc” without the quotes, press enter
  3. Find Background (BITS)… in the list, double click it
  4. Press “Stop”
  5. Then change the startup type to “Disabled”
  6. Go to the Recovery tab, and choose all three options to be “Take no action”
  7. Repeat steps 3 – 6 for Windows Search
  8. Close and restart
  9. Cross fingers, hope it solves it

Change Pagefile Settings

  1. Open up Control Panel (I always set Control Panel to View By Small Icons)
  2. Go to System
  3. Click on Advanced System Settings
  4. Under Performance, click Settings
  5. Go to advanced, click on “Change”
  6. Take the tick out of “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
  7. Then set it manually
  8. Click set,
  9. Click Ok, then restart
  10. Cross fingers, hope it solves it

Turn Off System Restore

Again, not an ideal workaround, but this has worked.

  1. Open up Control Panel
  2. Go to System
  3. Click on “System Protection”
  4. Click on the Local Disk – typically the C Drive
  5. Then click on Configure
  6. Put the spot in the “Disable system protection”
  7. Ok that, close it all, and restart
  8. Cross fingers, hope it solves it

Uninstall Google Chrome

Not one of my favourite workarounds, as Google Chrome is my browser of choice, but uninstalling it on one machine after doing all the others listed here did fix it, so it’s worth a go.

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Go to Programs and Features
  3. Uninstall Google Chrome

Re-Install Windows

Obviously not a fix, or a workaround really, but it’s worth noting that if you are having issues, and don’t have too much installed that requires detailed configurations, an operating system reinstall may be your best bet.

In Summary

So those are the methods that have so far worked for me in some combination or another. I have to say, turning off System Restore, and disabling Superfetch and Windows Search are the most effective fixes so far. I’ll be updating this list with more fixes as and when I find them. But who knows, Microsoft may release a fix for it soon …

 

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