A physical aspect that many people may not have taken into account on their respective computers is in the indicator lights (led) that monitors the action of your hard drive. We are talking specifically about a Windows computer, which may be a somewhat different situation than other different platforms.
When the hard drive indicator light starts to blink, it could symbolize a task that Windows is currently performing. It is not strange to see this situation when the operating system restarts, since everything a large number of executions would be taking place in the background. The strange thing could be when this same symptom appears at a completely different time, which could be a sign that a Windows task was pending and is now running or that some strange virus is trying to perform hidden operations without our help. authorization.
Windows scheduled tasks running in the background
Although it is true that on many occasions we have talked about task scheduling in WindowsWithout the need for us to have made a single one of them, the operating system has some, classified as pending. In order to explain this, we will show you below a small screenshot and where you will have the possibility of admire what Windows does when you move away from your computer.
The option that is activated makes mention that certain tasks programmed by the operating system (without user intervention) they will run when the computer is idle. These scheduled tasks could represent disk defragmentation, searching for new updates for Windows and downloading them in the background among a few other alternatives; If these tasks are executed when the computer is idle, once the user returns to the computer and begins to manipulate it, they will be suspended until another specific moment.
What additional tasks can Windows perform in the background?
Well, if we have already understood the reason why the hard disk indicator light blinks at a certain time, we should also be clear about the scenario about the possible additional tasks that the operating system could be executing.
File indexing.
This is a feature that has been implemented in most current operating systems, which is very helpful for users because with this task, a database is created on possible changes that are running on the computer. File indexing helps users to find a specific element in a faster way than conventional, being a task that corresponds to the Indexing Service and that periodically is monitoring the changes suffered in a folder, that is, if some more files have been added or deleted.
Disk defragmentation.
Until Windows 98, a user had to close all applications to start defragmenting their hard drive. Now this task is carried out in the background and in a "very slow" way so that the user does not have discomfort when working with other additional applications.
Scan for viruses.
Certain antivirus applications usually have a specific schedule when looking for viruses in files stored on the hard drive. This can be another task that does not necessarily depend on Windows but rather, on software specialized in this type of activity.
Backup copy.
This is an operation that could have been programmed by a user. With it, the backup of information in the form of a «Backup»Will be carried out in the background and without interfering with the performance of other applications running within Windows.
How to find out the tasks that are running at that moment
The list we mentioned above is too short compared to the large number of tasks that could be running within Windows at any given time. If we have a good antivirus installed we could be ruling out the activity of some kind of malicious code in the system.
If we begin to appreciate that the hard disk light is blinking insistently (or continuously) then we should call the "Task Manager«, Which will offer us more detailed information about what is happening in the operating system. Right there we have the possibility to review, which resources are consuming too much RAM or our processor.
We could also go to the «resource monitor«, Having to go later to the tab«discs»To review any task that is running on them.
With these little tips and tricks that we have mentioned, you should already understand the reason why the hard disk light starts to blink insistently at any time, and you should try to "not rule out" any suspicious activity that could be running with a malicious code.