Computers hold a lot of files – millions of them, in fact. To be the least bit helpful, a computer has to keep track of the location of each and every one of the files it stores. To really speed up your computer, you’ll need to use something better than a modified rolodex, though!

Computers Need More Than A List Of File Names

For some users, keeping track of the file name isn’t good enough. Users, as it turns out, are terrible at remembering things… like file names. Users are better at remembering what the file contains, but a simple searchable index of file names won’t help you find content hidden inside a file. That’s where file indexing comes in. File indexing is a process whereby the computer looks at the contents of the file and makes a more detailed searchable index, based on what’s stored in a file. Users can then search files by content to find what they’re looking for.

Indexing – especially when it’s conducted for the first time – takes a lot of time. It’s one of those really good “overnight” tasks, like making backups and defragmenting the hard disk. To be worthwhile, indexing has to be done regularly. If that were left up to the user, however, indexing would never get done. Why? Indexing takes up a lot of processor time, and that means the computer has less processor power to devote to tasks that the user may be trying to complete.

If you don’t want to share your processor with the indexing function, you can disable it, either temporarily or indefinitely. Not having a file index means that your searches will be less efficient, but that may be an appropriate trade if it means freeing up valuable processor cycles.

To disable indexing in Windows XP, right-click on the C: drive and choose Properties. On the General tab at the bottom is a check-box that says “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching.” Uncheck that, click Apply and your file indexing will be disabled until you re-enable it.

Indexing in Windows 7 is a little more intelligent. Where in XP, you only have the choice to turn indexing on or off, in Windows 7, you can decide which folders and files are indexed. To change the behavior of indexing in Windows 7, choose the Control Panel and enter Indexing Options in the search box. Select the Indexing Options control panel.

Click Advanced and then choose File Types. Enter the file extensions that belong to file types you want indexed. (e.g., .docx, .xlsx, .txt, etc.). Windows 7 will only index the file types you’ve specified. You can also control whether the file itself is indexed by its properties only, or by both its properties and its content. When you’re finished, click OK.

Your Windows 7 computer should index much faster, based on how you’ve limited it.

Photo Credit: Paul Keller, via Flickr

Tags: slow computer, slow computer indexing, speed up computer