new laptop: disk at 100%

[lemoncloud]

I just got my new laptop and only removed bloatware and changed some user interface settings so far. Nothing installed. Win10 home, btw.

1. when the computer is just standing around idly something starts running in the background and disk in the task manager jumps to 100%, the fan runs like crazy. It's mainly due to 'System and Compressed Memory'. What's going on there? When I move the mouse pointer this stops, thus it might be related to sleep/hybernate or something similar. The screen is on all the time though. I've not changed anything there yet.

2. there doesn't seem to be an option to reset the computer to factory settings. Only the first two options, keep files and remove all files is available.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Solandri]

On a new system, Windows does a lot of preliminary bookeeping in the background to speed up future operations. e.g. compiling an index of all your files to make searches quicker. Depending on the computer, it can take anywhere from about 15 minutes to a few hours. Try leaving the laptop on overnight (disable sleep/suspend) to let it finish this indexing, and see if the problem is gone the next morning.

If the problem persists, the other reason I've frequently seen for constant 100% disk activity is Windows Update. The Oct update for Windows 10 was pretty huge (nearly 800 MB). If you're on a slow Internet connection, the disk activity may be nothing more than it trying to download the update.

If your Internet connection is fast, Windows Update may have gotten stuck. Right-click This PC, click on Manage -> Services and Applications -> Services. Find the Windows Update service and stop it. Next go to the C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution folder. Delete everything in it. Then restart the Windows Update service (or just reboot). This will clear up any stuck partial updates and partial update downloads. Windows will basically think it's never been updated and will start anew. Hopefully it won't get stuck again this time.

 

[lemoncloud]

double.

 

[lemoncloud]

Thanks a lot. I will try this. Would it help if I switched internet off or do I need it for indexing? The internet is fast-ish here but constantly drops off anyway. So lets see how things look like tomorrow. Phew. Sorry, I was a bit worried as my old notebook constantly has this 100% disk problem, though most likely due to old, rubbish hardware.