Disable SearchIndexer

Since I got my laptop, which runs on Vista Home, I realised that the hard drive light is constantly flicking even when I am not using the laptop (while switched on). It did not bother me much at first but this week I was working on real big files which slowed the computer down dramatically.

So I went to the Task Manager (click ctrl, alt and delete simultaneously to get it) to see what is using so much of memory and processor.

I found a file called “SearchIndexer.exe” to be the culprit. Upon closer investigation I found that this process is not really necessary but it keeps on running and slowing Vista down. All this does is to index the files on your computer so you can find them quicker when you are doing a local search for files on your hard drive. You can turn this off if you want to. You can choose between:

1. Leaving SearchIndexer on and forever have a slow computer or
2. Disabling SearchIndexer and only have a bit slower search facility when you are looking for files on your hard drive, ones or twice per month when you might need it.

There are two ways to disable it.

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