Find Files Fast With Indexing Service

Windows 2000

The search feature will save you time when locating documents, but if the file you need is lost in the ocean of data on your hard disk or network, even this tool can make you drum your fingers with impatience as Windows churns through billions and billions of bits and bytes. To the rescue comes Windows 2000's Indexing Service, a little-known feature that can find many types of files in a trice.

Index we trust: Indexing Service employs special filters to analyze files and create indexes that it consults whenever you do a file search. Out of the box, Windows 2000 is able to index Microsoft Office documents, HTML and text files, and Internet mail and news documents. You can also install third-party filters for other file types. For example, Adobe Systems makes a filter for indexing Acrobat PDF files.

Start your engine: At the simplest level, you can use Indexing Service's built-in catalogs (collections of indexes and settings for specified folders) to scan the contents of the files on most of your local hard drives. Log on as the administrator, and choose Start, Search, For Files or Folders. If the underlined Search Options link is followed by '>>', click that link to open the search-parameters box. At the bottom of the box, click Indexing Service. In the Index Service Settings dialog box, check Yes, enable Indexing Service and run when my computer is idle, and click OK.

Get ready to tweak: For the greatest benefits, tweak Indexing Service and its catalogs to make certain that it indexes only the documents you want and doesn't waste memory and processor cycles on directories you never search. Launch the Computer Management utility: Choose Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. In the tree pane on the left, double-click Services and Applications, and then double-click Indexing Service. Many catalog-related tasks require that you stop and restart Indexing Service. With Indexing Service selected in the tree pane, choose Action, Stop, or right-click Indexing Service and choose Stop. Use this technique to stop indexing every time you run your backup software or perform a virus scan, because these programs can lock files and cause Indexing Service to abandon its update.

Catalog it: To create your own catalog, either right-click Indexing Service or right-click in the right pane and choose New, Catalog. In the Add Catalog dialog box, type a name for your catalog. In the next box, you can type the path to the folder in which you want to store the catalog, or you can click Browse to locate and select the target folder.

Two notes on security: A drive formatted with NTFS will prevent users from seeing documents listed in search results unless they have permission. (In case you're wondering, Indexing Service never indexes encrypted files.) And don't store your catalog on a Web site because a catalog stored in a virtual directory or Web root may be locked by Windows 2000's Internet Information Service, causing Indexing Service to hog your processor as it tries in vain to update the catalog.

Designated directories: The more files Windows indexes, the more memory Indexing Service requires. Microsoft recommends 64MB of RAM for indexing up to 100,000 files, and 256MB or more to index around 500,000 files. To save resources, limit Indexing Service to scanning only the documents you typically search. Double-click your new catalog in the right pane of the Computer Management window, then double-click the Directories folder inside the catalog. Right-click an empty area inside the pane and choose New, Directory. In the Add Directory dialog box, type the path to the folder whose files you want to index (see Figure 3), or use the Browse button to find and select the target folder. You can also enter network paths and specify any required user name and password information in this dialog box. Select Yes under 'Include in Index?'. When you're done, click OK.

Be exclusive: To exclude subfolders from a folder's index, repeat the steps above to specify the folder to exclude from the index, but select No under 'Include in Index?'.

Rather than simply fine-tuning your own catalog, why not customize the default System catalog so it doesn't waste time indexing folders you never search? In Computer Management's tree pane, select the System catalog under Indexing Service, and double-click the Directories icon in the right pane. Now you simply double-click the directory icons of folders you don't want indexed, select No under 'Include in Index?', and click OK.

Fine-tune performance: For even faster indexing, right-click Indexing Service in Computer Management's tree pane and choose Properties. Uncheck Index files with unknown extensions to limit indexing to files whose three-letter extensions match Windows' known filters (for example, .txt, .doc, and .htm). Click OK. You can also right-click Indexing Service and choose All Tasks, Tune Performance. Select a usage level (Used Often for frequent updates, and so on). Or click Customize, set the Indexing slider to the desired levels for Windows index updates, and set the Query slider to indicate how frequently you make searches (see Figure 4). Drag the slider to the left to use the least system resources, or to the right for more up-to-date indexes and faster searching. Click OK as required to close all dialog boxes.

You're off and running: Restart the service to apply your changes: Right-click Indexing Service and choose Start. With Indexing Service selected in the Computer Management tree, the right pane will show how many documents you've designated for indexing and the number of documents that remain to be scanned.

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