Optimizing the File indexing on Windows 7

[Santy]

To improve your search files on your computer, Windows reference background content of a number of folders on your hard disk in an index, like a sort of directory. When searching for a file using the search field of the Start menu or Windows Explorer, Windows runs then this book which allows him to give you results faster than if it were to examine your hard drives.

To speed up the indexing of your files, but file searches and improve the relevance of results returned by Windows, you can fine tune the indexing.

Add folders to index:

Only a few well-defined folders are indexed by Windows. It is therefore possible that the search misses your documents. You can happily add folders to the index to either integrated in the research.

• Click the Start button and then click Control Panel.
  
  
• In the search field, type indexing.
  
  
• Then click Indexing Options.
  
  
• In the window that opens, click the Edit button.
  
  
• The above list refers your discs. Double click it to unroll. Check the boxes before then to integrate the files to index and thus take into account when searching.
  
  
• Then click the OK button and then click Close. The folders specified are then added to the search index. Note that the indexing of these new elements can take time if you have many files.
  
  
• Note that you can similarly remove the index files by unchecking the boxes that are in front of their names.

[Santy]

Refine search:

You can ensure that the index does not contain only the names of files, but also a description of their contents. The index will be larger on your hard drive, but the research will be more accurate.

• In the list of indexed folders, click the Advanced button.
  
  
• Open the File Type tab.
  
  
• The list of all file types to be indexed is displayed. Uncheck the boxes to the types of files to not index.
  
  
• For the types of files that contain text (DOC, HTML, PDF, XLS, etc.), select them and check the box Index properties and content of files.
  
  
• Click OK.

Move index:

If you added a second hard drive in your computer, it is certainly more recent and therefore faster. To accelerate your research, you can drop the index on your second hard drive.

• In Windows Explorer, open your second hard drive.
  
  
• Create a new folder there called index by clicking the New Folder button.
  
  
• Then click the Start button and then click Control Panel.
  
  
• In the search field, type indexing.
  
  
• Then click Indexing Options.
  
  
• Click the Advanced button.
  
  
• In the category Indexer location, click the New button.
  
  
• Select the index file that you created on your second hard drive and click OK.
  
  
• Then press OK to.
  
  
• Click Close and restart your computer to apply the change.

[Santy]

Disable Indexing:

Referencing files is a process that is so discreet, in the background of Windows, which can consume system resources. If you rarely use Windows search function, you'd better stop altogether indexing.

• Click the Start button. In the search field, type the command services.msc and press Enter.
  
  
• In the list of services, double click Windows Search.
  
  
• Unroll the Startup type list and select Disabled.
  
  
• Click the Stop button and then click OK.
  
  
• Close the services window: Indexing is disabled. Note that you can always search for files on your hard disk, this operation will just be slower.