Solved Windows search is very slow on Windows 8.1

[desbest]

Searching for files is VERY slow on Windows 8.1
I have tried

• rebuilding my search index
• restarting the windows search service
• adding the AppData folder to my search index
• Running "sfc /scannow"
• Running "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth"

It hasn't helped.
How do I speed up windows search?

 

[wiganken]

There may be errors on the disk. Have you run the chkdsk scan and fix command? You can see how here: - How to Fix Hard Drive Problems with Chkdsk in Windows 7, 8, and 10

 

[desbest]

I have ran chkdsk and no errors are found on the hard drive and windows search is still very slow.

 

[wiganken]

If this has just started to happen and it was OK until recently then something has caused it. Have you downloaded or installed something recently? I assume you have security software installed but there must only be one installed. Having two installed will slow down your computer. You may have downloaded a trojan or virus so have you run a security scan? One way to speed up a search in File Explorer is to first click on the parent folder where you think the file you are looking for may be so that you are not searching the entire hard disk. For example click on "Documents" before entering the search criteria (filename.doc, filename.xlsx, *.doc, my???.doc). This will only look in "Documents and its sub-folders and find files quicker.

 

[desbest]

I have run a virus and rootkit scan and it found no viruses.
I only have one security software installed.
Yes but I don't want to look in the parent folder, and often it is slow when searching the parent folder.

Any solutions?

 

[wiganken]

I repeat "If this has just started to happen and it was OK until recently then something has caused it. Have you downloaded or installed something recently?" Also what do you call "VERY slow"? Are talking minutes?

 

[desbest]

I have not installed any pirated software. Yes I have installed stuff recently.
It takes 3 and a half minutes to find the file I'm looking for in the indexed location when I search my entire computer, and at 5 minutes it still is searching and hasn't finished searching.

View attachment 70557

 

[wiganken]

Does your computer have a very large drive (like 2TB) with a lot (like 1TB) of files on it to search through? My computer has a 1TB drive but only 68GB "used space" and a search on mine takes only 30 seconds but if you have 10x this many files to search through then a search could take minutes to complete a search. Of course you may be seeing a slow down compared to what it was like a while ago but if you have recently added a very large number of files (like 500GB) then you will see a search taking longer than what you are used to.

 

[desbest]

My laptop has 1TB of space and around 207,305 files on it.
However the files that I am searching for are indexed, so searching should be quick if the files are indexed.

 

[Bat 1]

Can You post a pic like this one using CCleaner to give Me a better idea of Disk usage ? Laptop drives are usually much slower than their desktop counterparts.

Do you by any chance have Malwarebytes Premium installed ? Running it on My 8.1 laptop has slowed Windows Search and at times makes IE useless.

 

[desbest]

I do not have Malwarebytes software installed.

 

[desbest]

I have figured out the solution for this.

Intel Rapid Storage technology was causing the bad performance for me.

The problem seems to be the Link Power Management. If enabled, it causes extra delays for many disk operations. I got my normal performance back!

Start Intel Rapid control center, go to performance tab and disable the link power managemet and you are done.

If you use Firefox, go to options and under the general section scroll down to the performance header. Hardware acceleration should be turned on. By default the content process limit is 4. Change it to 7.

Open up Resource Monitor and identify the programs in the Disk section that are using most of the disk usage. To open up Resource Monitor, open Start then Run and type in resmon. You can open up Run by using Windows Key + R or by clicking Run on the Start Menu. You can also search for Resource Monitor in the Start Menu. Click the total heading to order by column.

Once you have identified which programs you think are slowing down your computer from the file name in the Image column, navigate to those .exe files. Right click them then go to properties.

You then want to tick the checkbox under the Compatiblity tab to run the program as administrator

Give the Users the group full control permissions for the file under the Security tab.

If the program you are using, uses other exe files to function, you want to repeat them same process for those files too.

Also repeat the process for programs which inject themselves into .explorer.exe such as start menu replacements.

Using mouse gestures like using two fingers to scroll can also cause your computer to become slow or freeze. If you use a windows laptop, the chances are that you have Synaptics mouse driver installed, so go to C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP and repeat the same process for every exe file in that folder.

Also repeat the same process for the exe files that your security software uses.

You should see changes in your computer's speed and disk usage instantly or soon. If not, then your computer needs to launch your security again from the beginning, so restart your computer and you should notice the changes then.