Windows Vista How to turn Indexing Service off

I know it is a very stupid question - I simply do not remember how - but what's the way to turn Indexing Services off? Is it through "gpedit" or "msconfig "? I searched in both but couldn't find it, and I remember shutting it down couple of months before! BTW, I have Vista Ultimate x64 installed. Thanx.

 

Thank you Steve. Said and done! I'm doing this because when I am in the middle of doing something, usually watching a video (DiVX or XVid, for instance), the HD starts action and I think it might be because of the indexing. Got any tips?

 

Reading in Help and Support it says that Indexing cannot be turned off, there may be two types of indexing I believe what MS says because the system might not work correctly if I try to get around it Using Help and Support, (type in Indexing), I set Indexing to a minimum. [I set an Index for a well-used folder, but it made no difference to the speed of access, so I turned it off] In Help and Support they talk about it increasing the speed of "searching ", if you don't look/search for files much, it seems to be a waste (of time ).

Disk activity? Does it seem to affect the video watching? It should be handled "in the background ". There are other activities that might occur, like disk defragmentation or Defender doing a check. As I am typing this, there is virtually no disk activity, if I let the system go to the screen-saver, that's when I see disk activity. It should use "idle time" to perform it's activities. Watching a video may not involve much use of the processor (CPU) or the HDD, so Vista starts doing it's tasks in the background.

Me, I wouldn't worry about it unless there seems to be a problem.

Matt

 

Thank you Matt. That's exactly it! I also think it's something in the background. But the very first thing I do when I "just finished clean install" of the OS is disabling most of the services which don't bring/add anything worth having it in the background, like Tablet PC, Remote everything and so on. In fact, it's not something to be mad about, but it's nagging to have a good HDTV DiVX in a nice LCD flat panel go stammering now and then. It only happens with video files - as far as I know XViD and DiVX ones using VLC Media Player. The settings are the same I've always used. I had Vista x86 and a different video card. Now that I upgraded to Vista x64 and changed the card, along with some fine tunings, the problem began. I must've stumbled on something which was not supposed to be changed, I think. probably I'll do everything again - clean install - as long as M$ lets me activate my stuff around here. I probably fine tuned too much as well

Thank you all for the patience.

 

One thing I have found is that Vista dislikes being tampered with I got very tired of User Account Control when I first installed, so I turned it off. Then the system would not work properly and I found I needed to turn it back on. I have left it on, it is only a minor annoyance now. I have not found one instance of when it stopped something happening that I have not instigated myself, but that is probably because I avoid any nasties. Turning services off may have a similar effect. Vista seems to be less "flexible" than previous versions and I think everybody is hoping SP1 will change that situation (my system is working very well, so I am not interested in SP1, it may possibly be detrimental for my system).

My suggestion would be to try work with Vista's default setup. If you reinstall, see if there is a "repair" option (I haven't tried a reinstall yet).

The drivers you probably have may be originals from when Vista was being "built ". I suggest going to the hardware manufacturer's websites and see if they have updated versions for their Vista drivers. Start with the chipset/motherboard drivers, then the graphics, then audio, then any others. It didn't take long after I installed Vista that I could see that things (hardware) was not working well. I found updates for all my drivers and the system seems "perfect "

Matt

 

Hi Matt

Thats a new one "turning off UAC" causes problems! What kind of issues?

Of course it would let you do things without warnings.

UAC has a Quite Mode if you are an Administrator.

On my clients that are Administrators I use the following:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/TweakUAC_d5623.html

Mike

 

Matt, I don't see how turning UAC off causes any problems either. I consider it nagging, that's all. For me it just doesn't fit. I think my problem occurs because some service, which I am not going to try and discover which one it was I disabled, interferes with my video playing, along with the codecs installed. And Flynn, I'm gonna give your UAC tweak a try. Thank you.

 

My (main) issue was installing Adobe Reader:
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=64680
I spent a few hours finding the cause, which was buried in the Adobe knowledgebase. I have spent less time clicking through the UAC prompts since then. I'm used to clicking through the warning prompts now, it doesn't bother me.

To me, Vista was built with UAC as a main function (they may change how it works with SP1). When I turned it off I vowed that if it caused problems I would just turn it back on and "live with it ". I am not going to tweak Vista. "Tweaking" I could see as ending up resulting in reinstalling Windows, not something I need to worry about and I really like the way my system is working.

Beto666, don't forget what I mentioned about drivers. You might cripple Vista when the problem is in the drivers.

Video stuttering I would look at first as a problem with buffering the data, not a problem with the operating system.

This seems like a good site:
http://www.codecguide.com/faq.htm
One I see that seems to back up my theory

Matt

 

Thank you again Matt. I will browse through it and come with a response.

Looks like it indeed!

 

Arie, I'm about to clean-install the OS again, and will rather use the silently acknowledged UAC option instead. Don't want the "If you started this action continue" screen over and over again. Have never tweaked the registry this way, and will give it a try. If things are not the way I imagine them to be, "I'll be back!" Thanx for your post.

 

Thanks Matt.

I will remember this about Acrobat, but it does figure it would be an Adobe product!

Mike

 

Well mates, I clean-installed everything again. The sttutering video got a bit better, not 100% though! I think there must be something else I may be missing, but will live with that for a while

As for the UAC stuff, I'm using the silent TweakUAC suggested by Arie. It's OK. Thanx Arie. Really good tip.

Problem now is that my hard drive keeps spinning long after starting the PC, which really bugs me because it uses resources from the machine, making it slower than it should be. For Christ sake, I have a Quad Core 6600 2.4GHz running under the hood in here, with an Nvidia Gforce 7300 GT 512RAM and 4GB RAM, plus Vista x64 with SP1! Does it have to do with indexing or superfetch? Or the Mobo - Asus P5K SE - and its chips? Any hints everyone? I'm thinking about having to start disabling things around here again! Thanx.

 

Have you tried setting the system for "high performance "?

Like I was saying before, do you allow it to have idle time, when it should be carrying out tasks in the background. Check the screensaver and power settings.

At startup the antivirus and antispyware will run checks even if they checked exactly the same files before shutdown, also Windows puts things into paging file on the HDD (at the same time ).

It is recommended that Vista is not shut down. The power saving setting on mine allow it to be "virtually" shut down and it only takes a few seconds to be back at the desktop.

I recommend you get a memory stick to run Readyboost. It seems to help improve my system.

I will post back later today.

Matt

 

Back again.

I religiously shut down my computers when I am finished with them. The only reason I can find to keep them running all the time is that the electronics may last a little longer by not warming up and cooling down. That is, until I investigated Vista. I read that it is recommended that Vista should not be shut down and I think I see the reason. Vista is a very large OS compared to those previous versions. To make it get to a workable desktop as quickly as possible, it seems they get the basics running, then ancillary services and tasks are loaded in the background. That's why I expect you see the HDD activity still running after you reach the desktop. Don't forget what I said about security checks being run as well.

I never shut my Vista computer down now unless I am going away. If I want to end a session and put it to "sleep" I use the power icon in Start. What happens when you use the power icon? Does the power LED stay on? What happens when you wake it up and how do you wake it up? It has shocked me that my system appears powered off when it goes into sleep mode, no fans running, the LEDs on the motherboard register that the system is off, but when I press the power button on the case, it is back at the desktop when the monitor warms up. Having a Readyboost drive may help this type of sleep I think.

It seems that Windows is being made to shut itself down. Read about power and shutting down in Help and Support. It talks about going into a minimal power saving mode and seems to be a very positive step towards an environmentally-friendly computer.

Now, because of the size/complexity of the system, if you shut down and restart, expect it to be slow and have a lot of activity in the background.

I treated Vista like Win XP when I first started using it. It is a different kettle of fish and now I investigate it's features and use them to their maximum advantage.

Beto666, I suggest you work with Vista, don't try to turn it into Windows XP because it won't work. Ask yourself "Why does Vista do it this way when XP did it a different way?" Find out why, but you will still find people trying to turn it into XP. I have gone Win 3.1 -> Win 95 -> Win98 -> Win XP -> Win 2000 -> Vista. They all have their different "improvements" and I might think "that's strange" about a new feature, but find out why it has been changed. If there any "oldies" reading this, would you want to turn Windows 95 back to Windows 3.1? Work with the system, not against it. Win XP is the old style now.

Matt

 

Matt, allow me to disagree with you, in part. From your writings, I see that you go "by the book" too much! I am not trying to make Vista behave like XP. Far from it. My questioning arose just because of an upgrade, that's all. I was running my Vista x86 along with an Intel Pentium D, 2GB RAM, and an NVidia Gforce 7300 LE, which is not so "Vista capable" and WQHL or whatever! Now I have Vista x64 with SP1, a Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, and a better (not what I've been dreaming of) video card. As a matter of fact, I don't mind installing and re-installing my OS now and then. Problem is I have to back up lots of stuff before doing so. I don't mind tampering with the registry and services now and then either. That's how I've learned a lot about systems and their naggings. Like yourself, I have also gone through all those "ancient" systems and before them. I have tested almost everything, in almost every possible way a layman could.

Let's not forget that Vista is too resources greedy. But I don't get too angry because of that, neither do 140 million buyers of Vista around the globe, as for today. I'm still trying to figure out why a system that is going well under almost the same settings and almost the same programs installed, suddenly starts to behave like a spoilt brat! I think the problem lies tinily on the "almost ".

I will be still working on it, and if I find some answers I will come here and post. By the way, I've disabled Superfetch and Indexing and things got a bit bettar as far as concerning the HDD activity. I just don't seem to take default settings too seriously some of the time!

 

Maybe, but as far as power management is concerned, I had to throw my old conceptions away with Vista and relearn a new method. As I said, for Vista, I never shut down any more. For Windows XP and prior, I still always shut down.

Have you looked in the (Control Panel) Power Options -> Edit Plan Settings -> Change advanced power settings? There are all sorts of settings there. My settings were default to High Performance for Search and Indexing, which means Indexing is set to high, I just set it to Power Saving.

There are places in Vista where you can adjust things manually without "disabling ". It is like software programs that control overclocking, you no longer have to make carbon bridges on the processor, you just open the program and change the settings.

If I buy a new car, I don't just open the bonnet and start making changes because I could do it on my old car. I read the manual first.

Matt

 

I have already changed a few things here and there in the power settings section. Things like: never turn off hard disks, time for monitor to enter saving mode, power button behaviour, etc. If I were a Microsoft programmer I'd still want to change a few things, but who wouldn't? I'll be experimenting in a few hours again, as long as I have the time and patience. Thank you again for the tips.