Windows and disk access - some problems

[pardal]

Windows and disk access

Hi,
I use a laptop and probably because of it I realised a weard windows activity. After a while (I'm not able to be much more precise on this) I notice that windows do disk access at a rate of once every couple of seconds. This anoys me for four reasons:
1. The noise - low but persistent
2. It's surely not healthy to the hard disk
3. It doesn't sop even if I kill all running programs (checked with task manager)
4. Unsatisfied curiosity. What the hell is it doing?

Anyone noticed that and, specially, knows why?

 

[btbass]

If you right click C drive and select properties, in the 'General' tab there is a check box 'Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching'. (This is Win 2K) This is bloody microsoft office trying to be efficiant by indexing the files on the hard drive every couple of minutes.
Uncheck the box.
This is one reason for strange disk activity.
There is also an office program called 'Find Fast' that starts on boot that does the same thing, find it and stop it from starting on boot.
Another cause might be a virus scanner, if so, change it's settings.

 

[Bat]

In all case NT (2K/XP and so on), write periodically on the disk, to put a 'checkpoint' (disk state, and so on).
This write is very little (few octets), and in general it's not noticeable. If there is no other activity, the disk head dont' move ...

 

[pardal]

Thanks for the tips but none of the sggested reasons are the cause of the reported disk activity. I repeat, when it starts it acts at a rate of once every couple of SECONDS.
I now think that is the bludy Java of Matlab. Killing matlab reduces the activity but doesn't make it desapear. The only way to stop it is a reboot.

 

[real_tr]

it writes to a dat file at documents and settings folder in your account folder, i cannot stop that activity
anyone knows?

 

[sick_man]

i know


if you are using windows 2000 disk access like this
is caused by memory overflow in lower memory areas
if it accesses a file continiously
you may find the file its self is write protected and that the company simply forgot to uncheck the attrib before an access attempt

too find the path
use a resorce monitor app this tracks every movement in the registry

also check that you set a path to things like matlab and mplab folders

also install the latest sun systems updates for java
microsoft is total rubbish and they havent got a clue about java

another thing is the disk driver its self

do you have a firewall ?? if so this could conflict with a virus util

a freespace error on the disk will cause this schedule a disk check
check for compatability mode

if none of this works

then simply remove each app till it goes away

if this dosnt help
run regclean.exe
then use norton utils

i think it is an active component causesing this

or also download a good anti spy
like spyware search and destroy
some of these spy programs write too disk very often


other than this check for autoexec and config.sys extra statements crept in


it writes to a dat file at documents and settings folder in your account folder, i cannot stop that activity
anyone knows


look in start up for gama correction utils that load with windows


turn off and disable auto notification of a cd
in cdrom section of device manger the properties and untick the box

some cdrom and hdd in laptop < 300 mhz speeds
dont like udma mode
check the physical drive is seen not just a standard hard disk drive
{there are patches too fix this}
the solution is too use the laptop makers patch on the bios too fix
another thing is drive chashing
windows platforms before 2001 / dec
had a drive cash issue
if the partition was bigger than 10 gb and the physical disk had more than two allocated drives

get a patch from
BIGFIX website

h**p://w*w.bigfix.com/website/index.html
i also found that handy



after all that

maybe you just need too defragment the disk
and clean the rubbish from the net

to do this use windows washer
and regestry cleaner

a good app also is system mechanic this does it all

but each tool does some tests others dont
i use five or six maintance tools
and
a tip is always use a better defrag than microsoft
use norton utils diskdoctor too correct he freespace error you have


finaly adding

fully remove the dam system restore from the machine
or switch it off

it is a resource hog

there is an app too remove it
use google type
system restore remover you dont need it

unless you run with no firewall on the net

 

[pardal]

Ha, we are geting somewhere. You mean that it's writing to the NTUSER.DAT file?
That it is also a very nice sheat of windows. It never stops growing and doesn't let be edited. I once booted in safe mode to look inside it and didn't like what I saw. Lots of references to vizited web sites, records of previous installed (and uninstalled) programs, and who knows what else.

Sorry, I posted this before seeing Monkey's message.

 

[sick_man]

bing !!!!! SPYWARE

 

[sick_man]

use a good tool like windows washer
too wash the dat and bleach it

then the registry to remove the key and dll making it update or better
is too nop or eb the call