Disable Windows 11 indexing.

Disable Windows 11 indexing.

Disable Windows 11 indexing

In books, you can find the content you're looking for faster, so you can search similar in Windows system for files, saved documents on your computer by the search function of the indexing service. The index maintained by the system can provide answers to a search in a fraction of a second, which could take several minutes without it.

Good to know:

A.) – The applications installed use the indexing function, to find images, videos, documents faster, because the File Manager uses the indexing services to continuously track the modified files.

B.) – In the Microsoft Store, applications become available faster when the indexing service is enabled.

Quick Tip: Indexing runs continuously and automatically on your computer, as it keeps track of file changes and updates them with the latest ones. It searches for modified files, scans them and stores them again with the new data available.

Microsoft engineers claim that the data collected and stored on the system by the indexing service will not be transmitted to any other computer or to Microsoft, but the activity of the applications installed by the user cannot be verified.

Attention: The code built into your installed program can automatically read the indexed data and redirect it to the Internet, so download and install programs only from a trusted location.

Proposal:

1.) – For slow hard disk (HDD) and slow processor (CPU), disable indexing (to save resources).

2.) – For slow hard disk (HDD) but good processor (CPU), enable indexing (a good processor provides the resource).

3.) – Slow processor (CPU) but fast SSD drive, you can disable indexing (SSD provides fast search).

4.) – For fast SSD, with good processor (CPU), you can disable indexing (the indexer is not faster than the SSD).

If you consider the above and disable the Windows indexing feature on slower computers, you can get better performance on Windows 11, because the search indexer uses CPU (processor) and RAM (memory) continuously. So to save resources, it is a very good idea to deactivate, to remain resources for other programs.

Quick Tip: When disabled, there is no indexing, so a security risk is removed immediately, because when you install external programs, they do not receive more information that they could transmit.

If the hard drive is slow, but you have a good processor, it makes more sense not to disable indexing, but otherwise it is better to disable it here as well. Users who have an SSD on their computer can safely disable it because the SSD is a fast memory-based drive, so it reads files as fast as the indexing service.

Let's begin:

There are several options. You can stop the service partially or even completely.

The partial shutdown solution has two stages. The first is weaker, because only certain folders can be indexed. The second stage is stronger, here you can disable indexing on the whole unit.

1.) – Disable indexing of certain folders:

Do the following: Open the Control Panel. Press the Windows -Logo + R keys on the keyboard at the same time and type the control command in the search box in the Run window that appears, then click OK or press Enter. In the Control Panel window that appears (select the display of small or large icons instead of group listing), click the Indexing Options link.

The following window displays a list of indexed items, including Internet Explorer, the Start menu, the Users folder, and their subfolders with all their contents (documents, videos, images).

A.) – Click the Modify button at the bottom of the window.

B.) – Click the Users folder that appears at the bottom of the new window.

C.) – Clicking, changes the content at the top of the window. Click the arrow in front of the Users folder.

D.) – The user's own folder and the Public folder will be visible. At the top of the window, click the arrow in front of your user folder (in this example the John John folder) and uncheck the folders you don't want to index.

Use the Start Menu folder similarly. Uncheck the box in front of Internet Explorer, because Microsoft has removed browser support and instead recommends Edge, so indexing is unnecessary. When you're done, click OK and close the windows.

2.) – Disable indexing of units:

You can disable indexing of one or more drives if the main drive is divided into several partitions (eg 1 TB HDD or SSD), where you can ignore the system drive (usually C:\), but you can completely (or partially) disable indexing on the other unit. Do the following:

Click the This PC icon (icon: MyComputer) on the desktop. The Devices and Drives window appears. On multi-drive computers, in addition to the drive where the system is installed, right-click the next drive (usually D:\ or E:\), and then click Properties in the pop-up menu.

Quick Tip: If there is no desktop icon, press the Windows -Logo + E keys on the keyboard, then on the left side of the File Manager window that appears, you can access the drives at the left, bottom. You can read more here how to place an icon on the desktop...

The Local Disk Properties window appears. At the bottom of the General tab is the Disable or enable drive indexing check box. Clear the check box before: Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties, to stop indexing.

Finally, click Apply. When you click, a small pop-up window will appear. Select the Apply changes to drive D:\, subfolders and files check box, if it is not checked by default.

It may take a long time (maybe 30 minutes), depending on the number of files. Patience. Do the same for the other units if you want to stop indexing them.

Anyone can calculate how many resources Windows wastes on a computer with multiple drives by constantly scanning them to index new files that you rarely (or never) open otherwise using the indexing service.

3.) – Disable indexing completely:

The above method can be used to stop indexing folders or drives, but the indexing service continues to run in the background, looking for new files.

Caution: This operation is recommended only if Windows search does not work, or the processor is very slow.

Attention: Completely disable the indexing service at your own risk. Create a restore point or create a full backup of your data, from which you can restore files and documents in the event of a system error.

Quick Tip: Windows is built in such a way that many applications depend on other applications, so removing some may affect the proper operation of other applications in the future or even cause Windows to malfunction.

To completely disable the service, do the following:

A.) – Press the Windows -Logo + R keys on the keyboard at the same time, type services.msc command in the search box in the Run window that appears, then click OK or press Enter.

B.) – The Enable - Disable Services window appears. Scroll down to the Windows Search. Double-click with the left mouse button on this link.

C.) – The Properties window appears. In the Startup type line, click the down arrow, then select Disabled from the drop-down menu.

D.) – Under Service Status, click Stop. Then click Apply and then OK.

Finally:

Restart your computer for the new settings to take effect. If you experience problems, system failures, or slow search performance, consider reactivating them using the methods described above.

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