Why does my drive A: becomes active on its own without any floppy in it?

Question

It seems that out of the blue my computer will start searching the A-drive. The A-drive light comes on and it starts chattering like it is searching for something. This happens unexpectedly. I may be surfing, working with an application, or playing a game. Should I be concerned?

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Answer

This question was answered on August 25, 1999. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

The most common cause for this symptom is a program such as an anti-virus application or an autosave feature in a program such as Microsoft Word. Most programs that are running in the background are represented by an icon in the System Tray (bottom right corner next to the clock). Try disabling the programs by right-clicking on them and closing or exiting each program one at a time to see which one is causing the disk access. This is simply a nuisance and nothing to worry about unless it starts to cause a disruption in your computers performance.

Author

Posted by Ken of Data Doctors on August 25, 1999