What's making my hard disk thrash in Windows Vista?

Wondered what is causing your Vista machine's hard disk to thrash at seemingly random times in Vista? Well on a bare clean Vista install here is what is what I believe is causing the usage, and when - use this guide to help diagnose which you have:

Process	Occurs When?
Superfetch/Readyboost	Readyboost device inserted, first run, when Vista analyses that you use particular programs/data regularly.
Indexing service/Windows Search	Assumed after every new file write/delete - reindexing for greater index performance occurs randomly (well, when the index needs cleaning up).
Windows Defender	Periodically in the background, automated scheduled scans.
System Restore	When a new driver or piece of software is installed.

If you have Vista on a laptop and use Readyboost (via built in card reader or similar which I do), I'd recommend leaving Superfetch/Readyboost enabled, and System Restore for obvious reasons. I've disabled Windows Search via the services (because of heavy disk/battery usage) and Windows Defender as I'll enable and use this manually when I need it (I don't need it bugging me every 3 days/running whilst I work).