OK to disable automatic maintenance in Windows 8.1?

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

Do I really need to keep automatic maintenance enabled in Windows 8.1? Depending where you go on the web, you'll either be advised to disable it or to leave it alone. One site states that you should disable it in home PCs to avoid "processing overhead." All I know is that the whole time I was on my computer last night and while currently on it tonight, the notification area in my taskbar continuously shows that "maintenance is in progress." It never seems to get finished. Can I disable this function without any repercussions? Thanks.

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

Just wanted to add that the maintenance finally got done, so I guess I'll continue to allow the computer to do this function automatically rather than manually. I was just concerned because it was taking an inordinate amount of time to do. Much, much longer than what I'm used to. Thought might be an issue with Windows 8.1.

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

Automatic maintenance? Are you talking about automatic Windows Updates? If you want to see what is being downloaded but not yet installed, change the setting so it does that. If you are talking about something else, post back.

Windows updates settings

Caffeina · ‎03-09-2010

I'd leave it alone, unless you're going to remember to run it manually on a regular basis. It defrags, check for errors, and a number of other things. You shouldn't be noticing any performance issues when it runs.

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh848037%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

qualityshopper · ‎12-04-2011

Glb613--What I'm talking about is Maintenance in the Action Center (under System and Security in the Control Panel). I've never experienced any issues running it on Windows 7 and really wasn't experiencing any problems on this Windows 8.1 computer. I was just concerned about the unbelievably long time it took to finish compared to my Windows 7 computer.

With Windows 8.1, I'm never quite sure if things are truly OK or not. For instance, every so often my wifi connection goes to "limited" or totally disappears. Never had that happen with any of my previous computers. From what I've read on the Internet, seems like a lot of people have experienced wifi problems once they go to 8.1. Like me, their other computers and devices have no problems connecting--just the 8.1 computer. I've updated the drivers, uninstalled and reinstalled the adapter, and did a few other tweaks. For now, it's working. Just surprises me how many people are having the same problem. Makes me think I should have stuck to Windows 7.

Caffeina--I wouldn't have a problem remembering to do those things, but I'll let it alone for now since it really isn't causing a problem (just don't think it should take so long).

Thanks to both of you for answering. Much appreciated.