# My disk usage (Drive 0 (C:D:)) suddenly rises up to 100%



## BeTheNoob (Sep 16, 2014)

Hello,

I'm facing this problem that my laptop is at some points really slow; when I checked one day Taskmanager for answers, I found this:










This isn't normal, so I decided to check the Resource Monitor and this is what I found:










It seems that a few applications/processes such as System, SvcHost.exe, Taskhost.exe and AvastSvc.exe are generally causing this.
However, I thought that I shouldn't be stopping these processes since that might be harmful for your system, right?

Does anyone know what I should do?
Help me please, would be really much appreciated!

OS: Windows 8.1
CPU: AMD A8-5550M
RAM: 8GB
HDD: 500GB

Regards,
BeTheNoob

P.S.: Sorry for the pictures being in the Dutch language.


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

Hi :wavey: and :welcome: to TSF!

We should narrow down to the specific service that is running under svchost, but one thing that's certain is that the _C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution_ directory is being read/written to a lot. That location is used by Windows Update (to the least of my knowledge) and probably some other "updater" programs, especially those bundled by OEMs (bloatware). Here is a tutorial on how to determine which service(s) is running under svchost (netsvcs).

The Windows 8 task manager makes a good job categorising the Service Host processes, just expand the relevant section and take note which service is causing the high disk activity. Take snippets of the processes so that we can assist with narrowing down the culprit service and advice further. If you are having trouble following the linked tutorial please feel free to ask for further assistance and we can try to simplify the procedure described therein.

Cheers


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## BeTheNoob (Sep 16, 2014)

Thank you for the warm welcome 
and of course for your answer!

I've found and understand the tutorial about determining the services that are running under svchost. Currently, I have also done some virusscans (Avast Internet Security), did a drivercontrole, did a test with MalwareBytes and went for a search in the Services where I stopped some unnecessary software to be running in the background and starting upon systemboot.
So far so good, I haven't had too much of these disk-usage rises (upto 90-100%), however, it's still not what it should be and fluctuates a lot from time to time.

Whenever the disk is loaded with processes again, I will take a screenshot of what's going on in Taskmanager under Windows-processes (as explained in your linked tutorial) and I'll just post it here, so we can discuss from that point on forward.

I'll keep you up-to-date and thanks for your answers so far, it has gotten me a step closer


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## BeTheNoob (Sep 16, 2014)

Stancestans said:


> Hi :wavey: and :welcome: to TSF!
> The Windows 8 task manager makes a good job categorising the Service Host processes, just expand the relevant section and take note which service is causing the high disk activity. Take snippets of the processes so that we can assist with narrowing down the culprit service and advice further.


I've been checking in out from time to time for the past few days. And its occurrance has decreased, yet not totally gone away.
So now and then it still reaches 90-100%; and when I checked out the Windows-processes, I found these:










and:










P.S.:
I have disabled automatic Windows updates; if Windows wants to install updates, he'll have to ask me first.


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## BeTheNoob (Sep 16, 2014)

New update: 










My avast-virus scanner seems to use a lot of diskspace too, even though I'm not running a scan or anything like that.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

You can uninstall Avast using Avastclear cleanup tool. And restart. Then Enable the free Windows Defender that comes with Windows 8.1. That works better then Avast anyways.


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## BeTheNoob (Sep 16, 2014)

Yea, but I got a paid Avast subcription that still lasts for almost 2 years and so far, I have always used Avast ever since I got my own laptop years ago, so is there also a way to manage this problem without having to remove Avast?


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## Stancestans (Apr 26, 2009)

spunk.funk, would you care to explain how Avast fares worse off than Windows Defender? I'd agree it being an integral part of Windows, it's been highly "optimized" (read stripped down to bare bones functionality) hence is light on system resources, but it's nothing close to the efficiency and effectiveness offered by Avast, which is the leading free anti virus.

OP, you could disable Avast temporarily to further investigate if it's the culprit instead of uninstalling. Do this by booting into safe mode and disabling all avast services. It wouldn't harm disabling other third party (non Microsoft) services as well. Reboot into normal mode and observe for any changes in disk usage.

I have to agree that Avast surely is part of the problem because that's just too much activity its carrying out. I use Avast in my 8.1 installation and have never seen it use so much disk time. I'm running the free version though and the extra features of Internet Security sure put some extra strain on resources, but not as much as your system is reporting. This could be caused by some other process because any anti virus that's worth mentioning will be scanning file system activity in the background in real time, so if a particular service is the culprit, I would expect anti virus programs to closely monitor this high disk activity and scan accessed files.

It's also possible that your Avast installation could be corrupt somehow, so I'd suggest resetting its settings to defaults and repairing the installation especially if it's configured to automatically update to the latest program version. If that doesn't change anything, I think you'll be fine uninstalling it and reinstalling as long as you keep your licence handy once we've confirmed if it's the culprit or not. 

Software issues aside, there's the possibility of it being a failing hard drive. It is expected of the 'System' process and security software to be the heaviest disk users because of operating system files being constantly read and written to as well as background scans by security programs, and the situation is likely to get worse if the hard disk is facing imminent failure. This possibility begs the question of how old the hard drive/pc is. We will get to that when we've exhausted the other probable causes, but for now, try out the suggestions stated earlier (safe mode, clean boot and/or Avast uninstallation). 

Make sure to disconnect from the Internet when running Windows while Avast is disabled because your system is gonna be vulnerable without any protection enabled. If you decide to enable Windows Defender, make sure it is up to date with the latest definitions before browsing the web.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

> spunk.funk, would you care to explain how Avast fares worse off than Windows Defender? I'd agree it being an integral part of Windows, it's been highly "optimized" (read stripped down to bare bones functionality) hence is light on system resources


 You have answered your own question. IMO, Arguably, it is just as efficient as Avast or AVG free versions.
OP, try disabling Avast and see if the resources return


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## BeTheNoob (Sep 16, 2014)

Alright, thanks for your suggestions guys, I'll go ahead and see what I can do and observe the changes (or not if there aren't any) for the next couple days; I will let you know what I have found.

Also, about a harddrive failure. That really shouldn't be happening because I bought this notebook in February 2014, which means it's only like 8 months old.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

A HDD can fail at anytime. It can be a week old, a year old or 10 years old. They fail with little or no warning. Always keep a current backup of your personal files on a USB HDD or DVD.


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