If you have Vista, then for sure you have encountered this problem – your hard disk keeps churning and your Task Manager looks something like this:

Sometimes it would stop, then start again for no apparent reason. And what’s worse, frequent disk access interferes with your computer usage and makes life hard. Annoying, isn’t it?

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to tame the shrew and make your hard drive behave normally.

Disable Disk Indexing

In theory, Disk Indexing is a very useful feature, because it indexes and updates lists of all the files that are on your computer to let you search for files and folders faster. But the downside of it is that it makes your computer slow and loud. To disable indexing:

1. Navigate to Control Panel
2. Under Programs choose Uninstall a Program
3. Click on Turn Windows features on or off
4. Disable the Indexing Service

Don’t worry, Vista search will still work perfectly fine with indexing turned off.

Modify Disk Defragmentation Settings

Windows Vista automatically configures Disk Defragmenter to run once a week. That may be another reason why your hard drive starts thrashing. If you don’t constantly download new files and install software, it would be a good idea to schedule disk defragmentation to run once a month.

1. Type defrag in the search box and hit Enter. This will open Disk Defragmenter.
2. Click on Modify schedule and choose whichever option feels best (I recommend once a month)

But, to be honest, the built-in Windows defrag utility is not particularly good. So I would disable scheduled defragmentation (just uncheck the Run on schedule checkbox) and use Auslogics Disk Defrag instead.  It’s a lot faster and won’t make your hard disk spin endlessly. You can schedule defragmentation to run weekly – just open Auslogics Disk Defrag, go to Settings – Task Scheduler and set the time when you want to defrag.

Turn off System Restore

System restore points are a great idea – they let you roll back your system to a previously known state. But I’ve found that Vista is obsessed with them and creates them any time you touch your computer, basically. Of course, that makes life hard for your hard disk. And anyway, you don’t need every restore point Vista creates! I’d recommend turning off System Restore alltogether and using the upgraded Vista backup utility instead.

To turn off Systerm Restore:

1. Go to Control Panel
2. Click System and Maintenance, then System
3. Under Tasks, click System protection
4. Click Continue when prompted by UAC
5. Under Available Disks, uncheck the check box next to your main drive

Keep in mind that you have disabled System Restore and backup whenever you make serious changes to your system.

Change Windows Defender and Your Antivirus Settings

Windows Defender performs daily scans by default. Come to this of it, your antivirus program might do the same. Both are totally unnecessary.  I’d recommend changing your Windows Defender Settings (once a week is enough) and disabling background scans your antivirus migt perform altogether. Most antiviruses give you real-time protection and you can always run a manual scan on a regular basis, say, once a month.