How do I find out what my hard drive is doing?

erik · Post by **erik** » 22 Apr 2007 2:34 pm

My hard drive will not stop moving. I checked my zone alarm and it's not scanning. There is no activity over the net. I can't figure out why it's running. It's interfering with my ability to surf the internet. Please make it stop!

Dave Todd · Post by **Dave Todd** » 22 Apr 2007 4:32 pm

Press Ctrl-Alt-Del at the same time for the task manager and look at "Processes". That will tell you basiclly what programs the computer is running and what programs you are running.

Regards

Dave

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 22 Apr 2007 8:23 pm

Turn off the Indexing Service

erik · Post by **erik** » 23 Apr 2007 3:48 pm

Thanks, it turns out my zone alarm WAS scanning. But when I clicked on the program it didn't show any scanning activity was taking place. I only found out after the virus scan was complete a pop-up box then informed me the scan occured and spyware scan was now commencing. The ctrl + alt+ del procedure will help me in the future. My old W98 would only restart after doing that. I used it often as my computer froze so many times a week.

Wiz, you lost me with the indexing thing.

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 23 Apr 2007 4:03 pm

erik wrote:Wiz, you lost me with the indexing thing.

The Microsoft Indexing Service indexes every file with time created and last accessed, properties and file size information, then saves this information until you conduct a Search, at which time it does a quick lookup in it's database of known files. Disabling this service will quiet a hard drive, if that is the cause of the activity, free any CPU cycles or RAM it was using, and will free some disk space used to store the database of known files (not so much of a problem these days).

The consequence of turning the Indexing Service off is noticeably longer search times, when looking for particular files on your hard drive. If you only do the occasional search you can turn off this service and save the listed resources and disk activity.

To disable (or enable) the Indexing Service, go to Start > My Computer, then right-click on the C Drive icon, choose Properties, and, on the General tab, at the bottom, you will find the checkbox for controlling the Indexing Service.

erik · Post by **erik** » 24 Apr 2007 3:18 am

Thank you!

Wiz Feinberg · Post by **Wiz Feinberg** » 24 Apr 2007 8:34 am

You're welcome Eric! Is this matter resolved?

Leroy Riggs · Post by **Leroy Riggs** » 4 May 2007 10:43 am

Wiz, other than a slower search, is there any other downside to turning off the Indexing?

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 4 May 2007 11:35 am

When I installed Vista (Home Premium), the indexing was turned off apparently by default. I haven't noticed any problems with it off or any slowdowns because of it.