Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.newusers (
More info?)
"Sharon F" <sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org> wrote in message
news:uPfsg4eMEHA.268@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
> On Tue, 4 May 2004 10:44:24 -0400, Bob wrote:
>
> > I need to turn automatic defrag off, it's driving me nuts. Someone
please
> > tell me how.
> >
> > Bob
>
> Automatic defrag occurs once every 3 days and lasts a few seconds. It is
> not an intense operation. Are you sure that's where your extra disk
> activity is coming from? Is it possible that you have "indexing" turned
on?
> This feature causes more disk activity and can be quite intense - at least
> until the basic index is built. Smaller bursts of activity for new
> additions to be indexed.
>
> If you have a full scale defrag occurring on a regular basis, that is not
> normal in XP. Either a task has been added to Task Scheduler or there is a
> third party defragmenter with its own scheduling options being used.
>
> --
> Sharon F
> MS-MVP ~ Windows XP Shell/User
I disabled indexing and System Restore long ago.
Your information on automatic defragging is in disagreement with another
source:
http://windowsxp.devx.com/articles/perfen/default.asp
"
The last hardware change of note is that Windows XP will automatically
perform disk defragmentation during activity lulls. As described previously,
these lulls consist of 13 minutes of no user I/O. The result of this is, of
course, more-efficient disk access.
"
This description is consistent with what I have been experiencing. In the
middle of writing code - which itself has no I/O until I save the files - my
machine will randomly start disk activity which takes 1-3 minutes. And if I
stand by/suspend my computer while it's doing this, any instances of IE and
OE lock up forever, and I can't reboot without physically turning the
machine off. So much for Windows XP's vaunted stability.
There was nothing in Task Scheduler, but since I disabled it there has been
no more unsolicited disk activity.
Bob