Windows 100 % disk usage with no apps , laptop too laggy

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Sometimes I see this issue occur to me too ... one inference i made was windows is downloading an update.
Because a couple times after the slow, next restart had an update installation.
With nothing running the disk usage goes to 100% with System or svc_host using like 0.6MBps or 0.5 MBps.
Generally whole system will become a bit slow, but the performance is restored after a while.
 
Yes, if Windows gets an update like "Malicious software removal tool" every now and then that tool does full disk scan (even if you have Windows Defender or old MS Security Essentials).

Or maybe one of those Crypto malware is encrypting your disk and you will soon see a Bitcoin ransom demand :D
 
I'd recommend you get an SSD if you're willing to spend. Most laptops i've seen nowadays come with 5400RPM hdds which prioritize power efficiency over speed. The change after putting in an SSD was dramatic to say the least.
 
RakaKaKaka said:
View attachment 71961
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The screenshot does look normal (just a brief spike).

If you want to try and isolate the issue, you can use Resource Monitor (click the link right at the bottom left of your screenshot) to try and isolate what's going on. You can also use tools like http://systemexplorer.net/ or https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer You will have to keep resource usage monitoring running before the max. load event, because system response at max. load may be too poor for you to do anything in time to see what's going on. System Explorer has a History tab which maybe useful for situations where 100% system utilization means most process monitors are not able to respond in time ( see https://www.technibble.com/repair-tool-of-the-week-system-explorer/ ). Also be aware that resource monitoring will introduce a bit of it's own load on the system depending on the tool used.

The most common culprit for a sluggish Windows PC is usually, but not always, Windows Update (more so on Windows 10).
 
RakaKaKaka said:
What is the problem, i barely have any apps open as can be seen. its windows 10 64 bit with 4 gb ram.
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In addition to moving to SSD as suggested in earlier post - also try upping to 8 GB even if you have "barely any apps" - even browsers/tabs/websites consume a lot of RAM and cause swapping/virtual memory usage which will be slow on HDD. Plus your screenshot does show 3.2 GB used so swapping on HDD can be another culprit.
 
I think its mostly regular windows doing its maintenance tasks. In such tasks, it runs disk defragmenter, that Malicious software removal tool, Windows defender scans complete C drive, WIndows superfetch does something in background etc. Superfetch and windows installer run simultaneously when windows update installs things in background so it will take full 100% disk utilization. In such scenario, no amount of ram will help since windows does not care about ram but only cares about disk being locked by its own process. Saying this cause I have an 8320 + 8GB ram and have seen the comp working very slowly like slow motion for long times due to this stupid behaviour in Windows 10. No wonder people are beginning to hate Windows now. No respect for peoples time.
 
Yeah just try to get an SSD installed if you can and secondly if possible add another 4GB RAM depending on the conclusion in this thread.
 
I wonder if his comp is still running at 100% disk utilization even now. These instances usually run at start up (super fetch or Windows update removing old updates to free up space) and last max of 10 minutes depending on speed of comp.
 
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