How to Lower Your Windows 10 Disk Usage From 100% to 0%

High disk usage is bad. If you see your disk usage at or near 100% in the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) on Windows 10 or an earlier version, there's likely an issue with your hard drive or operating system. High disk usage can cause your computer to run slowly, freeze, and become unresponsive, making it unable to perform tasks as it should.

What is Disk Usage?

Disk usage (DU) refers to the portion or percentage of computer storage that is currently in use. It contrasts with disk space or capacity, which refers to the total amount of space a given disk can hold. Thus, when we talk about high disk usage, we're addressing an issue – the higher your DU, the slower your computer will run. When your DU hits 100%, your computer will “freeze” and remain that way until all processes have had a chance to complete their allotted tasks.

How to Lower Disk Usage Efficiently (14 Ways)

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When your computer is running slow, you should open Task Manager to see what's using up your resources. Are they applications or background processes? If you find any, try ending their tasks right away. If not, the 10 methods below can help return your disk usage to its normal state, which is usually 0%, and hopefully fix your 100% disk usage problem.

Method 1: Restart Your Computer

Sometimes, Task Manager might not be able to pinpoint the actual cause of disk usage. In such cases, try restarting your computer first, as that can resolve various issues. Use "Restart," which clears the old Windows state and starts the system anew, instead of "Shut Down."

To restart your computer:

1. Press the Windows key. 2. Click the Power icon. 3. Click Restart, which will close all apps, shut down your computer, and then turn it back on.

Seeing 100% disk usage even with a fresh system state? If so, it's not much of a concern, and the reasons behind it aren't that important. Otherwise, you should take steps to get your computer's disk usage back to normal.

Method 2: Check for Malware Infections

Malware or computer viruses can harm your computer data, system performance, and most importantly, consume your computer resources. Worse still, malware is often invisible to us, and we have to use professional antivirus software to detect it. Therefore, scan your computer right away to see what might be attacking your system. If you haven't installed any third-party programs, you can make the most of Windows Defender.

Run Windows Defender on Windows:

Settings -> Update & Security -> Windows Defender -> Open Windows Defender -> Full Scan

Method 3: Temporarily Disable Your Main Antivirus Program

Instead of using an antivirus program to check for malware infections, try disabling your main antivirus software. According to Microsoft Support, many third-party antivirus programs are set to run continuously in the background to protect your computer at all times. They scan your hard drive 24/7 for potential harm from unknown sources, which can take up a lot of disk usage.

If disabling the antivirus helps to recover the disk state, you might need to contact the provider to report the issue and ask for a workaround that allows protecting your computer without causing high disk usage issues.

Method 4: Temporarily disable Windows Defender

In fact, Windows Defender runs in the background when your primary antivirus isn't working. Most regular users don't even realize that this built-in program is there, helping to protect against malware but also contributing to high disk usage. More importantly, Windows Defender might conflict with your main antivirus, causing the disk usage to spike.

To turn off Windows Defender:

Click “Start,” then go to “Settings.” Choose “Update & Security.” Click “Windows Defender,” and turn off Real-time protection and Cloud-based protection.

Method 5: Temporarily Disable Windows Search

If the high disk usage issue is caused by a search loop in Windows 10, you can try disabling the Windows Search service.

First, try troubleshooting by temporarily disabling Windows Search:

• Press the Windows key + R, then type 'cmd' in the Run dialog box to open the Command Prompt.
• In the Command Prompt, type the command: net.exe stop "Windows search", and press Enter.

This will stop the Windows Search service until the next time you restart Windows. Return to Task Manager and check the disk usage again. If it's normal, then Windows Search may be the culprit, and you should consider disabling it permanently.

To permanently disable Windows Search, you need to do this:

• Press the Windows key and R, then type services.msc in the Run dialog.
• In the Services window, locate the "Windows Search" entry, and double-click to open its properties.
• Under "Startup type," select "Disabled," then click "OK" to save your changes.

Method 6: Stop the Superfetch Service

Superfetch is a Windows service designed to speed up application launches and enhance system responsiveness. However, similar to Windows Search, Superfetch can contribute to high disk usage issues. You can try temporarily disabling this service to see if it reduces your disk usage.

Here's how to disable the Superfetch service in Windows 10:

1. Press the Windows key + R, then type "services.msc" in the Run dialog box. 2. The Services window will appear. Locate "Superfetch" in the list. 3. Right-click on "Superfetch" and select "Properties." 4. If you want to stop the service, click the "Stop" button. In the "Startup Type" drop-down menu, select "Disabled."

Method 7: Check for hard drive errors

High disk usage can also be a sign of hard drive issues. You can check for disk errors, such as file system corruption and bad sectors, using Windows' built-in CHKDSK tool. You can run the disk checking utility through the Command Prompt and utilize the appropriate command line to address this problem.

For those not familiar with the Windows command line, we recommend downloading a free partition manager, such as Partition Master Free, directly to your computer. It is a smart disk and partition management tool that can automatically check for disk errors and fix them when found.

Step 1: Right click on the problematic partition.

Step 2. Select Advanced > Check Filesystem.

Step 3: Choose whether to hide the partition.

Step 4: In the Check File System window, select the option to Try to repair errors if found.

Click “Start” to begin checking for partition errors.

Method 8: Update Your System

How long has it been since you last received a Windows update? Is your version of Windows too old to run smoothly? The 100% disk usage issue was reported to Microsoft Support months ago, and their engineers have been working hard to release updates to fix the problem. While many people are accustomed to the familiar state of their systems, we still recommend updating your system if none of the above solutions work for you.

Get the latest Windows updates:

1. Click the "Start" button, then select "Settings" > "Update & Security" > "Windows Update." 2. If you want to check for updates manually, choose "Check for updates." 3. Select "Advanced options," and under "Choose how updates are installed," choose "Automatic (recommended)."

Method 9: Reset Virtual Memory

Most users won't know what this is. Simply put, virtual memory is Windows' way of using your hard drive (or SSD) as RAM for your computer. If your PC is running slow and the Task Manager shows 100% disk usage, resetting your virtual memory might help. This will take longer than the previous methods, so be patient and careful.

How to Change the Size of Virtual Memory in Windows 10:

1. Navigate to Settings > System > About.
2. In the Related settings section, click System info.
3. Click Advanced system settings from the left pane.
4. Now, click the "Advanced" tab under Performance.
5. Click the "Change" button under the Virtual Memory section.
6. Here, uncheck "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" and select "Custom size."
7. Input the initial and maximum sizes for virtual memory, then click "Set." Tap "OK," and restart your computer.

Quick tip: The amount of virtual memory varies per device and can't be generalized. As a rule of thumb, set the "Initial size" to 1.5 times your available RAM and the "Maximum size" to 3 times your available RAM, if possible.

Method 10: Perform a Clean Boot

If your disk usage shows consistently at 99% or 100%, but you can't find anything amiss when you check your apps or background processes, and you've tried all the basic troubleshooting steps you can think of, a clean boot might help. A clean boot starts Windows with the minimum number of drivers and startup programs so you can determine if a background program is interfering with your disk usage. Similar to resetting virtual memory, performing a clean boot involves several steps from start to finish.

1. Press the Windows + R keys and type "services.msc" in the Run dialog box to open System Configuration. 2. Under the "General" tab, click on "Selective Startup." Deselect "Load startup items," and then click "Apply." 3. Now, go to the "Services" tab, check "Hide all Microsoft services," and then select "Disable all." 4. Restart your computer. This time, it will start up in a clean boot environment.

What other methods can you employ to reduce 100% disk usage on Windows 10/11, aside from the ones mentioned above?

There are far more than ten ways to fix high disk usage, and, in fact, every computer has its own unique hard drive issues that may not be as common. Your best bet is to try out more solutions. So, what else can you expect to lower high disk usage on Windows 10?

Method 11: Change Your Google Chrome Settings

1. Open the Chrome browser. 2. Click on Settings > Advanced settings. 3. In the Privacy and security section, uncheck the "Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly" option.

Method 12: Update Skype Settings

• To launch Skype for Windows 10, select the Start menu from the bottom-left corner of your screen. Scroll down through the list of available apps and tap on Skype for Windows 10 to open it.
• Select the "Security" tab, then click "Edit."
• In the "Group or user names" list, choose "ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES." Check the "Write" option to allow Skype to write to your disk.
• Click "OK."

Method 13: Uninstall Flash Player Updates

• Go to Settings > Update & Security. • Select Update history. • Select Uninstall updates. • Scroll down and locate the Adobe Flash Player update. • Select the Adobe Flash Player update, then choose Uninstall. • Follow any additional on-screen instructions.

Method 14: Upgrade a 100% Used Hard Drive

Lastly, but not least, if all the above attempts fail to lower the disk usage on Windows 10, you must accept the fact that your hard drive is failing, which can be a serious issue. When a hard drive has physical problems, your computer will slow down significantly, crash or freeze constantly, and issue annoying 100% disk usage warnings accordingly. It's high time to recover data from the failed hard drive and replace it without reinstalling Windows and data.

If the computer boots up normally but the hard drive is not accessible, you should attempt data recovery right away.

Download and install the Data Recovery Wizard tool on your computer, then follow these three steps to extract the data from the problematic hard drive.

Step 1: Select the hard drive where you lost data and click on "Scan".

Select and scan the hard drive

Step 2. After the scan is complete, use the "Filter" or "Search" option to locate the lost file.

Step 3. Select all the files you want to restore and click “Recover.” Then, browse and choose a different secure location to save them.

*** It can also easily recover data from a hard drive that won't boot. In this case, download the Data Recovery Wizard Pro with Bootable Media utility to perform data recovery without an operating system.

How can you replace a failed hard drive without reinstalling Windows? As you may know, this goal can be achieved with a reliable disk cloning tool that can clone the entire HDD or SSD to another disk.

Another trusted tool by millions of users worldwide, Disk Copy, excels in cloning HDD to SSD, migrating OS to HDD/SSD, upgrading small HDD to large HDD, or replacing failed disks with powerful ones.

To clone your HDD to an SSD using disk cloning software, watch this video guide for detailed instructions.