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Disabling Indexing Service In Windows XP

Posted By: BioTecK on Thursday 10 July 2008 with 19 Comments

The index service scans through files and  folders on the XP system and records information about them in index files in order to speed out the searching speed, but do you use the search function often? Personally I don’t use it. I like to have things organized, so I have everything in it’s folder where I can find the files very easy. By disabling the index service you can gain more CPU & RAM Resources and improve the performance of your computer.

There are two methods to disable the index service in Windows XP:

Method 1: Disabling the index service on a particular hard disk drive.

  1. Open My Compute.
  2. Right click on the hard drive to disable indexing (i.e (C:) drive letter).
  3. Select Properties on the contextual menu.
  4. Click on General tab if it’s not already selected.
  5. Uncheck the check box for Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching option.
  6. Click OK, and wait for the index removal process to complete, which may take a few minutes.
  7. Repeat the steps for other hard drives if applicable.

Method 2: Disable the Indexing Service in Windows XP for ALL the hard disk drives at once.

  1. Go to Start
  2. Type services.msc in the run text box and hit Enter
  3. In the Services Window scroll down and locate Indexing Service and double click on it
  4. Click on Stop button to immediately stop the indexing service if the service status shows Running.
  5. Under the Startup Type, select Disabled to permanently disable the indexing service so that it won’t run again.
  6. Click OK.

And that’s it!
Note: Searching is still possible after disabling of indexing service but it will be more slowly.

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19 Comments so far, be the next one! »

  • Chetan Gole said:
    16 July 2008 at 22:07

    The indexing service of Windows XP eats lots of RAM (memory) in our PC. so it is always better to turn it off.
    Nice share. thanks

    Chetan Goles last blog post..Hack sitemeter to Hide it.

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    17 July 2008 at 12:19

    Welcome Chetan Gole.
    It really uses a lots of RAM and system resources, which I don’t like and people should know about this so they can turn it off too! :)

  • Bleuken said:
    23 July 2008 at 02:07

    I don’t know that, i thought the indexing services is an advantage for my PC but it turn out to be the opposite. I will disable it right away and thanks for this advice. Nice! :wink:

    Bleukens last blog post..New Video Games Getting Smarter

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    23 July 2008 at 23:20

    Well, It can be an advantage when you use the search function A LOT Bleuken.
    Me? I don’t use it and for me it’s better to switch if off! ;)

  • Allan Tyler said:
    16 January 2009 at 17:02

    I have been using windows for all my life and I am wondering that why I didn’t know that. I think there are a lot of hidden services which always slow down our PC and those should be disabled. Thanks for sharing the tip.

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    20 January 2009 at 06:09

    LOL! :D Yeah there are a lot of services which most people don’t use and when turning those off you’ll see an improvement! :D

  • peter said:
    27 January 2009 at 13:01

    I have disabled indexing by doing the above, but for some reason my pc is still indexing ? i get the indexing search icon on the tool bar and it says indexing is slowed due to pc activity. your thoughts please

  • peter said:
    27 January 2009 at 13:43

    System info. xp pro sp3

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    28 January 2009 at 06:30

    Hmm…That’s very strange Peter. I have used a method on at least 5 other pc’s and none of them had any issues like yours.. Give me some time to see what’s wrong and I’ll get back to you! :)

  • peter said:
    28 January 2009 at 13:16

    ok, Thanks,

    on startup the pc is busy (orange light on) and on the tool bar the indexing icon/spyglass is showing,indexing paused due to pc activity ???

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    31 January 2009 at 18:40

    This is really strange Peter. I mean I have tried it on another pc and tried the search but nothing “strange” happened. When disabling the index service you still can use the search function but it will be more slowly.
    On the other hand, the orange light you describe is probably the windows security center, meaning that something, for example your antivirus is out of date, so it has nothing to do with disabling the index service.

  • peter said:
    2 February 2009 at 16:39

    Yep, Iv’e tried everything to stut it down/off everything is up to date, I guess it’s one of those xp things that won’t go away. Thanks again for thinking about it. Regards

  • peter said:
    2 February 2009 at 20:52

    Found it, windows search, switched to manual in task manager. I search with (agent ransack) anyway,it’s free as well, its better.
    peter

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    4 February 2009 at 06:41

    Hi Peter!
    I’m glad you found the problem! :D

  • Zyapa said:
    23 February 2009 at 22:54

    I checked it from my Services Control Panel and it is manual there. I think it was not starting automatically so did I need to disable it or what, or it is already stopped?

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    26 February 2009 at 06:40

    Well… To be honest.. I would have stopped it Zyapa. Then you’re sure that it doesn’t run! :wink:

  • Allen said:
    22 June 2009 at 20:22

    I just finished installing Alexa toolbar and my PC is far slow. I was browsing the internet to speed up my PC and I got your article. Thanks for sharing cool tips.

  • Costello said:
    28 June 2009 at 16:26

    Allen, I think browser’s speed is something different than speed of PC and such process will not have any effects on browser’s performance. You should do something else.

  • BioTecK (author) said:
    5 July 2009 at 18:40

    Your welcome Allen!

    Yes, that’s true Costello.. But what Allen meant is that he was looking for an solution for improving his pc’s performance and then he found my article.. ;)