disabling indexing in XP

[razz]

In XP Home, when I unchecked the indexing box under properties, a pop-up shows two options.
Do you recommend disabling indexing only on your hard drive or hard drive and folders and sub-folders?

Does this usually increase performance a fair amount or not that much?

Thanks for your time?

[Josh780]

I always go with the folders and subfolders option. I also disable the Indexing Service in the Services list as well so new drives installed are not automatically set for indexing.
 
You'll no longer have the service using up memory or CPU cycles...so depending on the make up of your computer, the performance increase can be anywhere from tiny to major.

[razz]

Am I correct in assuming that even though you disable index service in services.msc, you should still un-check the option within hard drive properties?

[VampireMuffinMan]

I always change the hard drive properties first thing when I install Windows.  If you wait until you've installed, say, Adobe CS(x), you will find that it takes forever to change all the file properties.  The reason that I do it that way is that there are some instances where the service might be turned back on, but since barely any files are left allowing indexing, the service won't use much in the way of resources.  At least that's the theory.

[Black Viper]

Am I correct in assuming that even though you disable index service in services.msc, you should still un-check the option within hard drive properties?

I also do both.
However, the main issue is that disabling the service will not allow indexing to take place, so unchecking the option to not allow indexing on a while drive (say, c: and all its sub folders) is redundant.

[ChiefZeke]

I'll add my vote to stopping the indexing service early. I didn't catch it early on my #2 system and it seemed like it was going to take all night to end it as the 200+Gb hard drive was unindexed.

[Josh780]

Don't know if it works this way, but... In my mind only disabling the service would stop future indexing (of course), but does it remove the "indexed attribute" from the files that are already present??
 
Disabling via the drive and then the service may be redundant, but I do this immediately after the install and it therefore only takes a couple extra seconds. This ensures me that this "indexed attribute" is removed from the files. A little extra time is always worth the piece of mind for me.

[Mr.Newton]

I don't want to be a spoil sport but indexing works kind of like a screensaver,in that as soon as you start to use your computer it stops running.I use the search function quite a few times daily and I find indexing is something I want.I used to have it turned off but not I want it.I also tweak it so that it only indexes my Docs and Sets.I don't need it to index everything else.
So you won't notice a difference in speed or performance because it doesn't run while you are using your machine.