How To Disable Indexing Service

The Indexing service periodicaly takes a "snapshot" of all the files and folders on your hard drive and stores them to a file which makes searching for files faster. Two problems with this feature are that it can cause a strain on the hard drive over time and can slow things down if it indexing begins while the computer is being used. It is generally advised that people who do not use the search feature to find files disable this to prevent performance degradation. Doing so can save from frustration in the future.

Here are the step-by-step instructions:

1. Click 'Start'
2. Click 'Run...'
3. Where it says 'Open:' type 'services.msc'
4. Scroll down the alphabetical list and find 'Indexing Service'. Click it once to highlight it. Then right-click it. This opens a menu with some options.
5. Click 'Properties' in the menu.
6. Where it says 'Startup type:' select 'Disabled'.
7. Click the 'Apply' button.
8. Click the 'OK' button.
9. Close the 'Services' window.
10. Click 'Start'
11. Click 'My Computer'
12. Right-click the '(C:)' drive. This opens a small menu.
    
13. Click 'Options' in the menu.
14. Uncheck the box next to where it says 'Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching'. This will open up a window with two options.
15. Click the option that says 'Apply changes to C:\, subfolders and files'.
16. Click 'OK'. Wait about 10 to 15 minutes, possibly longer for larger drives, and be patient! Settings on every file and folder on the hard drive are being changed. If a prompt comes up saying it is unable to set a certain file, just click 'Ignore All' and any files that can not be modified will be skipped.
17. Close the hard drive properties window.
18. Close the 'My Computer' window.