Windows users may want to disable Windows Search

Pegleg · Post by **Pegleg** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:38 pm

Windows Vista and XP users who have kept up with their patches and downloads will find that a new item called Windows Search or Windows Desktop Search was downloaded into their startup folder. The problem is that this a a very buggy program that seeks to catalog where everything is on your hard drive to speed up your file searches. When it decides to run, which is quite often, it ties up your system by using up from 49% to 99% of your system resources at a time with no way to pause it or stop it from interfering with your work(ie: the game). Check the tech forums if you don't believe that this is true.

The only way to stop this program from constantly updating is to use a startup editor to block/disable/remove it from the startup registry and then reboot to clear the old settings. I've had to apply this fix to three different computers now and no one has noticed any appreciable slowdown in file searches and all of them love having control of their computers back.

Cmd. Cheyd · Post by **Cmd. Cheyd** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:40 pm

It does more than just index files, but that is neither here nor there... Google Desktop Search functions in the same way, and with the same impact. So if you install / download something, and it has Google Desktop packaged with it, be warned....

Pegleg · Post by **Pegleg** » Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:31 pm

Yeah, I forgot about that one. Haven't used Google in years because of it. Thanks