Tweak Windows Vista's Indexing Options

[Charlie]

Windows Vista works in the background to automatically index all the files in the Start Menu, user profile folders and files setup for offline access by default. If you have many files in these locations and the files change often, the indexing service may slow down your system's performance. Unlike Windows XP, Vista now allows you to easily tweak the indexing service following the steps below. It is recommended that you disable indexing for the other locations other than the Start Menu for maximum performance. Bear in mind that while this tweak speeds up your overall system performance, it will also slow you down when searching for files in those locations.

Click on the Start Menu and in the search box type Indexing Options. Hit Enter and the Indexing Options should load. Click on the Modify button, followed by Show all locations. Now highlight the "Start Menu" (In the Summary of selected Locations). Then scroll through the tree-view and uncheck all options except the Start Menu. Hit OK.

Note: For advanced users, you can also change other indexing options, like the file types to index, by clicking on the Advanced button.

[ReadMeToo]

Myth #1 - One click and done!
There are no software or tricks can be automatic tune up your Vista speed without some manually tuning parameters, you may gain some performance advantage, but certainly not to the maximum level, manually tuning is always a requirement.

Myth #2 - Internet or Network tuning.
Most of these software and tuning tips applied in XP will not necessary suitable for Vista, such as MTU and RWIN parameters. You need to disable Vista TCP auto tuning to get them work, but not necessary maximizing the hardware potential as compare to TCP auto tuning, unless you know how to manually tune them, then the tools will make sense to you.

Myth #3 - You computer will be faster.
However, Vista is running faster, but not your computer. Your PC will always be the same, but saving the resources for Vista and its' application makes overall performance on Windows faster. If you are enthusiast enough, strip everything else and kept only the core. You might lose comfort to your Windows but gain enormous performance over it.

Myth #4 - More RAM more speed.
This is a bell curve situation, where your RAM amount reached the peak of your needs, it starts to stabilize and drop in performance when application requires more processing power than memory. That is why Vista pre-cache application in memory to accelerate the launch time and speed, it assumed you have more memory than your application needed. For the low memory system, caching will become a nightmare, because no more room for application to run, and Vista needs to use virtual memory such as page file and ReadyBoost to run the application.

You need to try and record each tuning steps to confirm the effectiveness. To save more time on tuning rather than myth, you may want to try "Unleash Vista Power Advance Guide".

Kok Choon - Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety as long as all links and author resources box in place.

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