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Windows Search Freezes

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by Brian1951, 2006/07/28.

  1. 2006/07/28
    Brian1951

    Brian1951 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    [FONT= "Century Gothic"]I am running Windows XP Home Edition on an AMD based system. The problem. Lately, Seach gets part of the way through a search of my primary drive C: drive and it just freezes. Is this a job for System Restore? Or would that be like killing a gnat with an A-Bomb?[/FONT]
     
  2. 2006/07/28
    Miz

    Miz Inactive Alumni

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    Try turning off the Indexing service: Control Panel>Administrative Tools, scroll down to "Indexing Service" and double click it. Click the Stop button to turn the service off. Leave that window open and try a search.

    If that works, go back to the Indexing Services Properties window and select "Disabled" from the drop-down list for Startup Type, click OK. Close the Services window.

    I disable the Indexing Service on all the XP systems I work on. All it's supposed to do is inventory everything on the drive when the computer is idle. It doesn't always wait until the computer is idle, slowing things down while it examines the drive. It doesn't seem to be of much benefit and it does seem to cause some problems on some systems.
     
    Miz,
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  4. 2006/07/30
    Brian1951

    Brian1951 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    [FONT= "Century Gothic"]
    [SIZE= "3"]Thanks, Mitz. I tried disabling/turning off Indexing. It helped a little with general searches (not involving hidden or system folders). But when I do a search including hidden files and system folders it always chokes at: C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows. Clicking Stop does nothing. Yet in Task Manager Search is shown as Running and not "Xyz is not responding." Task Manager shows: CPU Usage 100%, Processes 53, Commit Change 404M/2311M. I don't understand the last bit. I hazard a guess that something happening during search is overwhelming the CPU.

    So what's next?
    [/SIZE][/FONT]
     
  5. 2006/07/30
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Brian

    System Restore is always an option here, but it your problem may be caused by a corrupted file in the location you specified and System Restore may not help - it only restores system files.

    If you ask Search to find a file in, say C:\Windows does it still freeze?

    You could consider reinstalling Search .....

    Login to Windows as Administrator - as you have Windows XP Home, this has to be done in the Safe Mode....

    Highlight > right-click the following line and select Copy:

    %systemroot%\inf

    Go Start > Run and paste in the line above > Enter.

    Find Srchasst.inf > right-click on it and select Install.

    You may need your XP CD, but I think not.

    If all the above fail download AgentRansack - this is a freeware search engine - I use the Pro Version and both are vastly superior to the Windows Search. See if that works OK for you.
     
  6. 2006/07/30
    Brian1951

    Brian1951 Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    Pete C,

    I have no trouble searching C:\Windows. The freeze only happens when I opt to search all of C: including hidden files, and system files and folders. Then when search reaches C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows it freezes. I will try a reinstall of search. But if there's a corrupt file in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows wouldn't it be a good idea to run Check Disk or Norton Disk Doctor?
     
  7. 2006/07/31
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    It would do no harm to run chkdsk /r which may have an impact on the problem.
     

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