Re: Hard Disk Activity

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

Regular activity is "normal" on XP unless you
clean up the crap. Indexing could be involved.
And you don't need that. I think that PCHealth
can also be involved, as it monitors file changes.
(The whole PCHealth / Windows File Protection
mess can be uninstalled, contrary to popular belief.)
The number of useless services and functions
running on XP is in the dozens. I've never been certain
about *exactly* what causes the periodic disk access
on XP, but I see it on systems that haven't had
junk services culled.

....And that's before
you start installing things. Printers often add 2
or 3 bits of junk. Your ISP might add junk. If you
use IE you might be a victim of driveby downloads,
or a voluntary victim of spyware/adware toolbars.
If you bought an OEM PC you probably have lots of
junk that they pre-installed.... Etc. Any of those things
could be doing useless stuff without asking you.

Then there's the pre-loading crap: MS Office,
Open Office, Firefox.... Lots of things will load the
bulk of their software at boot if you let them, so
that they can give the impression their product is not
absurdly bloated. I'd be surprised if those things are
actually accessing the disk, though.

But *constant* activity, if you really mean
non-stop, seems like something worse than the
normal Windows Xtra Problem Premature Disk
Annihilation Service.

If you want to clean up and disable some of the
worst junk, see here:
www.jsware.net/jsware/xpfix.php5

Over the past year or so I've started thinking that
I might have to eventually run XP. With that in mind,
I've been working on some simple utilities that can render
an XP install reasonably lean and usable without a lot
of Registry digging, etc. What's on that page is the
result of my efforts thus far. Once you clean out services
you can then see if there's some further problem.

Also, if you don't use autoruns.exe you might want to
download that. It's probably the most comprehensive
startup controlling software.

I am having constant hard disk activity.
I can see nothing in Process Explorer causing this.
Mostly idle.
What is running on my PC?
Does indexing show up on Process Explorer?
How do I stop beating my hard disk to death?



.

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