Speed up xp and vista: number 3 of 50

Tip One: Tweak the Index Service

Opinions abound about the Vista Indexing Service and whether or not it slows down system performance. Unfortunately, much of the discussion I’ve seen is anecdotal in nature, with some users reporting that Vista is speedier than XP, and others reporting that it is dog slow.

Personally, I like the Indexing Service. It helps quickly locate content on a Vista machine without a folder hierarchy doing the job for me. Just type what you're looking for and go. It's kinda like a desktop Google, and yes, I'm aware that Google has a similar desktop add-in.

But the Indexing Service (which is not mentioned anywhere on Microsoft's Vista website; a search produces results for outside webpages) is not something you add, as was the case with Windows XP and the Windows Desktop Search (whose full name is actually Windows Desktop Search with MSN Search Toolbar).

Instead, the Indexing Service is built into the Vista OS, and runs by default. For those who want to try out life without the Vista’s Indexing Service, here’s how to disable:

Method One:

1. Open the Control Panel and then choose ‘Uninstall a Program’ from the Programs grouping. Now, select ‘Turn Windows features on or off.’
2. From this dialog box, you can disable the Indexing Service

Method Two:

1. Disable the Windows Search service using the Services MMC snap-in. If you type ‘services’ into the Vista Start Menu, it should come up.
2. Locate the Windows Search service, then choose ‘Disabled’ as the startup type. You should also Stop the service for it to take immediate effect.

Method Three:

1. If you’d like more selecting control over the Indexing Options, open the Control Panel and locate the Indexing Options application (or you can type ‘index’ from the Start Menu – the Indexing Service should help you locate it in the list of Programs. Ironic, huh? From here, you can remove locations you use rarely, or remove all locations altogether.
2. It is also possible to disable indexing for a certain drive or enable it only for selected folders. You can do this by changing the Properties of a drive or folder (right click on drive letter in Windows Explorer).

You can always switch back later if you want.

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More with Less: 50 ways to speed up xp and vista

Face it: your computer isn't as fast as when you first installed Windows. For a host of reasons, PC performance tends to degrade over time. But there are proven methods that will help you regain some of that lost speed.

This is the first in a 50 part series of tips and tweaks to help improve performance of the world's most popular operating system. Most of the tips that follow over the rest of 2009 will apply for both XP and Vista, some will be specific to just a single operating system.

And almost all of the tips will be brief. There's no sense in performing a tweak if it's going to eat up half of your weekend. Computers should help you be more productive, not less.

So stay tuned, and remember to hit the 'subscribe' thingy in the upper right hand corner to have the latest tips delivered right to your Inbox or RSS reader.


Tweak One: Update your BIOS.

OK, so this tip isn't technically a Windows tweak. It is a great place to start nonetheless.

You can usually find improvement in Windows performance by looking not at the operating system, but rather at the software the operating system uses to communicate with your computer's hardware - the BIOS.

So before you spend too much time tweaking the OS, make sure you have the latest and fastest BIOS for your motherboard. On modern computers, updating the BIOS means locating a small executable file from the manufacturer website, running it, then rebooting your computer. If you're using a Dell, go here. If running an HP, go here.

It's really that simple. The biggest challenge, in fact can be locating the BIOS update in the first place...it's not something that is searched for when performing a Windows Update (probably because it's not Windows).

If you need help finding this information, drop me an email. Otherwise, you can find the current version of the motherboard (along with the mobo manufacturer) from the Power On Self Test (POST) screen.

Look for new speed tips and tricks about every Wednesday throughout the year, with tweaks on Windows 7 as the product moves closer to launch.