Disable Windows Search Indexer

Question

I'd like to know how to proceed in order to permanently disable the Windows Search Indexer in my otherwise fantastic Windows7 OS?

Answer 1

All you should need to do is click the Start button, type Services in the search field, and click the Enter key.  Scroll down and right-click on Windows Search and choose Properties.  Change the Startup type to Disabled which will stop it from running when you reboot your machine.  You can also click the Stop button to stop the service immediately.

Barbara

Answer 2

OK, I can see how that could be disconcerting, for a stopped process to pop on when you had thought you had actually stopped it.  But anyway, I tried to duplicate what you describe, and the service named "Windows Search" remained in the disabled state, as I have had it for a while.  I have no clue why it does not behave the same for you.  Some kind of weird thing going on there.  (The doctors thing -- I'm just saying don't expect ordinary users here to know about these things, especially of some background process that is not readily apparent.)

I didn't disable it. If you disable it, then it will not run; my point is that Explorer tries to run it every time you open a folder, but if it is disabled, then it fails. That’s particularly dumb because if it is disabled, then it should not even attempt to run it. My point is that disabling the service does not turn it off, it only prevents it from working.

The goal is to turn it off so that Explorer does not even attempt to use the Indexer because the user specified that they don’t want it.

It’s like tying a car that is in gear to a post with a chain. It might successfully stop the car from moving, but it’s only a hack/workaround (and likely with undesirable side-effects). The proper solution would be to turn the car off altogether so that the chain isn’t even necessary.

What’s worse is that you can even “remove/uninstall” the Indexer by deselecting it from Windows Features and yet, Windows still uses the indexer (or at least tries to).

Others have grappled with this issue without success. :-\

Answer 3

OK, I can see how that could be disconcerting, for a stopped process to pop on when you had thought you had actually stopped it.  But anyway, I tried to duplicate what you describe, and the service named "Windows Search" remained in the disabled state, as I have had it for a while.  I have no clue why it does not behave the same for you.  Some kind of weird thing going on there.  (The doctors thing -- I'm just saying don't expect ordinary users here to know about these things, especially of some background process that is not readily apparent.)

Answer 4

Tell me which file that is, and what folder it is in, wise guy.  I looked at Event  Viewer and can't see anything much to talk about.  We're mostly ordinary users here, not PC doctors.

I clearly said it probably does, not definitely.

If you leave the Search service installed, you can test for yourself. Just open the Services snap-in (<tt>sercices.msc</tt>) and stop the Windows Search service. Then open a folder, any folder, then refresh the Services snap-in and you will see that the Windows Search service is now started. Every single time that you open a folder, Explorer tries to run the service if it is not already running. That is poor design and simply disabling the service does not make it stop trying to run it. That is not ideal, and may/does have a performance impact as well.

Imagine if it tried to access a floppy or network drive every time you opened a folder; even if the floppy drive has no disk in it or the network drive is disconnected, you would be furious that it tries at all because it would still have an impact. In fact I have seen people complain of exactly these issue before. The only difference is that in this case, the Windows Indexer being automatically and unavoidably used even when it is supposedly turned off, is not as obvious and in your face as the floppy drive whirring or the network drive access hanging the system for a minute.

(And I was not talking about “PC doctors”, I was making an analogy to medical doctors who think that there is no problem just because there is no blood or bone in their face; some problems are invisible but present nonetheless.)

Answer 5

Tell me which file that is, and what folder it is in, wise guy.  I looked at Event  Viewer and can't see anything much to talk about.  We're mostly ordinary users here, not PC doctors.