Disc Activity: Frequent and Annoying

[Guest]

I'm running an IBM X40 laptop with XP Pro SP 2, 512 MB RAM, 30GB HD.
Norton Internet Security is installed along with Norton System Works.

The computer works fine, but there is an ongoing, intermittent accessing of
the hard drive which, while seemingly harmless, is very annoying. This
activity occurs approximately every 2 to 3 seconds, lasts about 1 second,
then repeats. The hard drive clicks, the indicator light flickers ... all
very distracting.

I HAVE TURNED OFF THE INDEXING FEATURE. The problem persists. I've run
Spybot, but no relief.

I'm wondering if there is some unneeded program that is causing this
situation that can be disabled. There seems to be lots of these active, but
I have no idea which one might be the culprit and, if I knew, whether it
could be turned off without risking trouble.

I estimate 60 to 80 programs listed in Accessories>System Tools>System
Info>Softward Environments>Running Tasks AND Startup Programs.

Any help/suggestions will be very much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Start>Run>type MSCONFIG and click OK. Click the Startup tab.
Uncheck/disable everything except your anti-virus program.
Click Apply and Close. Reboot.
Disabling does not delete anything, only stops apps from loading and
using valuable system resources. All apps work by just clicking their icons.
If you want, after the reboot you could enable one program at a time to
ascertain which program was running in the background causing your
harddrive to activate. But.........that is up to you.

 

[Ron Martell]

I'm running an IBM X40 laptop with XP Pro SP 2, 512 MB RAM, 30GB HD.
Norton Internet Security is installed along with Norton System Works.

The computer works fine, but there is an ongoing, intermittent accessing of
the hard drive which, while seemingly harmless, is very annoying. This
activity occurs approximately every 2 to 3 seconds, lasts about 1 second,
then repeats. The hard drive clicks, the indicator light flickers ... all
very distracting.

I HAVE TURNED OFF THE INDEXING FEATURE. The problem persists. I've run
Spybot, but no relief.

I'm wondering if there is some unneeded program that is causing this
situation that can be disabled. There seems to be lots of these active, but
I have no idea which one might be the culprit and, if I knew, whether it
could be turned off without risking trouble.

I estimate 60 to 80 programs listed in Accessories>System Tools>System
Info>Softward Environments>Running Tasks AND Startup Programs.

Any help/suggestions will be very much appreciated.

1. Use Start - Run - MSCONFIG and check the items listed on the
Startup tab with the information at
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php to see what can be
safely removed from the startup list, and how best to do this.

2. Use Start - Run - SERVICES.MSC and check the configuration of your
services with the information at
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm to see what can be
safely reconfigured.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm