Speed Up Windows Search
"Windows Search is brilliant, but if it's not properly optimised it could be eating up resources. I will show you how to get the most from its indexing system."
When it comes to searching, the content on your computer can be as varied and numerous as books in a library. In Windows XP, searching involved your PC having to look through every single book title to find what you were looking for. Luckily, Windows Vista and Windows 7 brought with them the process of 'indexing', which meant when there was a change in a folder, it was recorded in an special reference file, rather like the index in a library.
This resulted in far faster searches, but it came at a cost - folders now had to be regularly scanned for any new or deleted files. Fortunately, altering Window's search function is a fairly straightforward process, and you can also optimise which folders are scanned to improve the overall performance of your PC.
Optimise Windows Search
- Search Settings:
To find the settings you need for Windows Search, click 'Start → Control Panel' and select 'Indexing Options'. You'll then be shown all the folders Windows Search is currently checking (or 'indexing', to give it its proper term). You'll also be able to see the status of the indexing process at the top, and the number of files that have been indexed so far. - Modify:
Clicking 'Modify' on the Indexing Options screen lets you choose which folders should be indexed via Windows Search. In the top panel, you can choose to index by selecting the various check boxes to the left. To browse for relevant locations available, click the small arrows to the left of each folder, which will then display every sub-folder found therein. - More Modifications:
In the Summary of selected locations - which can be located towards the bottom of the screen - you'll see which folders are currently being indexed. To remove these - Windows Live Mail in this case - simply click on it and you'll be taken straight to the relevant folder location in the top panel. Simply uncheck the file to stop it being indexed. - Choose the User:
If you have lots of word documents or photos, the User folder containing all your data is useful to index - but you might not want to index the entire thing. To change this, click on 'Users' in the bottom panel, browse to your name in the top panel and proceed to uncheck anything you don't want to scan. To complete this stage of the process, click 'OK'. - Advanced Options:
If you want to, you can even stop certain larger files - such as high-definition video files - being indexed. To do this, return to the Indexing Options screen, click the option 'Advanced' and select the File Types tab. From this location you can select the file types you don't want to index (such as mov or wmv). When you're done, simply click 'OK'. - Turn it Off:
If you rarely use your PC's search function, you might want to turn off the indexing process altogether - if you decide to this, your computer could be speeded up substantially as a result. To implement this change, click the 'Start' button and type services into the Search box. Once a list of results is generated, click on the Services result (it'll have some cogs next to it). - Disable Indexing:
Once you double-click the result, you'll be presented with another list. Browse down this list to Windows Search Properties and double-click it. Click the drop-down menu next to 'Startup type', then click 'Disabled', followed by the 'OK' button. If you want to turn it back on, it's just as simple. Just go back into this menu and select 'Automatic (Delayed Start)', followed by 'OK'. - The Search is Over:
Well done - you now know how to change the search options on your computer, as well optimise which folders are indexed by Windows Search. If you want to alter any settings - such as indexing a portable USB hard drive - simply follow the steps found above. Your computer, and your searches, will be much swifter as a result.
