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| | | Senior Member
 
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Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
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| | Occasionally my Vista laptop takes off on some task that keeps the hard drive access light on almost continuously for a few minutes. I'd like to find out what is going on. I don't think it is the antivirus update. When I start Task Manager, the two processes that seem to be using cpu cycles are tskmgr.exe and System. Does Vista have any tools that allow me to see the details of what the processes are involved in, or do I need to use some 3rd party application (maybe Process Explorer)? Thanks |
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Forum Administrator
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| It's probably superfetch populating the cache on your HD Vince.
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Forum Advisor
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Last Login: 7/23/2008 9:45 PM
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| If you want to see what's going on with your hard drive, do this:
Right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager. Click on the Performance tab, and at the bottom of the window, click on the Resource Monitor. You'll see the Resource Monitor popup behind the Task Manager. Close the Task Manager window. Click on the word Disk, (or on that bar) and that column will automatically expand to show you what process and what file is reading/writing to the drive.
Vista has a great built-in tool for doing just what you asked for.
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| | | Senior Member
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| | OK that looks pretty useful. I'll have to play with this a bit now to see if I can digest everything it is showing. Thanks |
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| | | Senior Member
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| | Allan, Thanks for the heads up about Superfetch. I just did some reading about it. But nothing I read mentioned how it appears in the list of processes, so that I will recognize it when I see it. |
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Forum Moderator
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Last Login: 8/8/2008 6:28 AM
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| Vista Features Explained: SuperFetch
SuperFetch & ReadyBoost
There are also some very good third party utilies you can download and use like ProcessExplorer or System Explorer to investigate all running processes and gather additional information to identify and resolve problems. These tools will show the process CPU usage, a description and its path location. If you right-click on the file in question and select properties, you will see more details about the file.
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"THE BAD GUYS DON'T NEED A SEARCH WARRANT. ARE YOU PROTECTED?"
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security  |
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| | | Senior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/9/2008 9:06 AM
Posts: 1,147, Visits: 2,534 |
| | Thanks, quietman. I just loaded Process Explorer, and I've been comparing it with Resource Monitor to see which one gives the info in a more friendly manner. |
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Forum Moderator
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| Your welcome.
I have been using Process Explorer for years now and find it an excellent investigative tool.
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"THE BAD GUYS DON'T NEED A SEARCH WARRANT. ARE YOU PROTECTED?"
Microsoft MVP - Windows Security |
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