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Windows 10 100 percent disk usage may be caused by updates over wifi

Windows 10 – 100% disk usage may be caused by updates over wifi

Every computer repair technician knows full well about the many things that can cause the disk usage on a Windows 10 system to hit (and stay at) 100%. Causing very slow response times on systems running Microsoft’s newest O/S.  Which at times can make a computer almost useless while waiting minutes for programs to respond to the simplest commands. In addition activities like web browsing seem much slower, leading people to think something is wrong with their Internet connection.

Before going full bore into the wifi issue, I would like to go over all the Standard ways the disk usage problems are addressed. As in many cases one of these other fixes can help before having to address the wifi issue it seems Windows 10 now has…

1. “Balanced” power plans slow down Windows 10 and can cause the 100% disk usage problem.  Going into control panel and changing the power plan from “Balanced” to “High Performance” can fix the error in many cases.

2. Disable “Superfetch”. This service is supposed to make your computer faster by “fetching” files you may need. But for many it also causes the 100% disk usage problem. Go to “Control panel” and then to “Administrator tools” then to “Services” and disable “Superfetch”.

3. If you do not use Windows search you can also disable this service as it also can cause the 100% disk usage problem. Go to “Control panel” and then to “Administrator tools” than to “Services” and disable “Windows search”.

I have found that one of the 3 fixes listed above will take care of the 100% disk usage problem about 95% of the time.

But I have noticed in a small percentage of computers that I have taken in to repair this issue, that it seems to be cause by Windows Update running over a Wifi connection. Now the first “answer” that comes to mind is just to shut down the Windows 10 update service. But it has a nasty habit of turning itself back on which means this “fix” only last a few minutes.

While Microsoft may at some point get around to addressing this problem, for now I have been using a workaround that in less than a minute seems to resolve the issue. Leaving the computer working like normal again. This workaround tells Windows 10 your on a metered connection and have limited bandwidth. It seem once you “tell” Windows 10 that, it goes easy on the hard drive access.

Before trying this I would recommend giving the first 3 fixes a go. As they overwhelmingly seem to be the “standard” cause of this issue. But if they do not work for you, and your ok working with the command line follow along…

First the normal disclaimers. Do this at your own risk and backup your data.

Also please note that this fix does not work over wired (ethernet) connections. Just Wifi.

Here we go…

Open up an elevated command prompt. aka “run as administrator.”

The first command to run is this…

netsh wlan show profiles

Windows 10 100 percent disk usage repair

After typing this command you should see the name of your wifi network. In my case here at the shop it’s “The Matrix”. You want to make note of your network name to apply the fix.

The next command in the cmd box is…

netsh wlan set profileparameter name=”YOURNETWORKNAME″ cost=Fixed

All on one line and hit enter.  Then close the CMD box and reboot your system. This change tells Windows 10 your on a metered wifi connection and have limited bandwidth. Which seems to fix the issue.

As always your mileage may vary and make sure your comfortable around the command line and fixing your computer yourself before attempting.

Good luck!

 

 

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Meltdown – The Intel CPU Security Flaw.

Meltdown – The Intel CPU Security Flaw.

Intel's Computer chip security flaw.
Intel’s CPU flaw

A critical design flaw in Intel based CPUs, going back ten years has been discovered by security researchers. Who have coined the name “meltdown” to describe the bug built into most Intel based chips and by extension most of the worlds computers.

The flaw allows the Kernel memory in most x86-64 operating systems, Windows, Macs and Linux, to be accessed by specially written malware that could then provide a users data to an attacker or allow the attacker to install other software on the compromised system.

While Intel has ramped up its PR machine to downplay the flaw. I find it a bit odd from an ethics viewpoint that their CEO Brian Krzanich, sold 24 million dollars in stock options AFTER Intel was informed of the flaw by Google. As reported by Business Insider…

http://www.businessinsider.com/intel-ceo-krzanich-sold-shares-after-company-was-informed-of-chip-flaw-2018-1

As a physical replacement (after a redesign) of every CPU sold in the last ten years would be almost impossible to accomplish, its going to have to be a software fix implemented at the operating system level to address this blunder.

Linux programmers already have a Kernel replacement being tested while Apple and Microsoft have made statements their operating systems will be patched in the days and weeks to come.

But due to the nature of the flaw all these fixes will have to bypass or change the way the O/S will address each systems Kernel memory, resulting in a system slowdown of anywhere from 5% to 30%.

So for some end users their computer may lose close to 1/3 of their speed overnight, after the respective patches are applied to their operating system. All to address Intel’s massive screw up.

I am sure the lawyers are already preparing their class action lawsuits as I write this. But it won’t be much help to the regular computer user.

And from a computer repair and support viewpoint, this will mean IT support departments, computer stores and independent computer repair technicians will start to soon receive a large influx of support calls from users that have no idea Intel’s bug is the cause of the coming slowdown and will demand a fix.

And unfortunately one will not be coming soon from Intel, as it takes years to redesign and re tool production for a new or at least updated CPU. And while many people may run out and buy a new computer once they discover their current computer’s performance hit after the patches are installed. It will not really do that much good if they try and get a system with the same specs as they had before. As the chips will still be defective.

UPDATE 1/10/18

While Apple, Microsoft and others have pushed patches to address this issue, it seems that these fixes are not ready for primetime just yet. With AMD chipset users and other systems that use certain antivirus products either being bricked after being updated or stuck in a reboot loop.

At this time as no real world attack has been demonstrated to be out in the “wild” just yet. It may be a better idea to wait to install these patches until they can be demonstrated to be working on the vast majority of systems. Not 100% safe, but better than bricking your system. I am sure in the weeks to come working patches will become available.