Uninstall Windows Search 4.0

[thai_american_42]

I think Windows Search 4.0 is making my life miserable by slowing down my computer in many areas. (It appears as a small magnifying glass indexing icon in the Windows notification area). Seriously, who in their right mind needs constant indexing in the off chance that they need to search their hard drive. I want to uninstall it via add or remove programs. I just started the process and received a scary message that many programs depend on Windows Search 4.0 and may no longer work if Windows Search 4.0 is uninstalled. I've tried finding the ramifications of uninstalling Windows Search 4.0, but could not. Will I be messing my computer up if I uninstall Windows Search 4.0?

[Kestrel13!]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753989.aspx



Uninstalling Windows Search

When uninstalling Windows Search from Windows XP or Server 2003, users can receive a generic warning that some programs may rely on Windows Search and could fail to function if the uninstall is completed. The Windows package installer keeps track of all the programs that it installs and when a user tries to uninstall one of those programs, Update.exe warns users with a list of programs were installed after the program being uninstalled. This is done to allow users to consider the possible dependencies between programs before uninstalling a program. Our testing has shown that such dependencies do not exist between Windows Search and other programs. You can continue to uninstall Windows Search without complications.

Uninstalling Windows Search 4.0 from Windows Vista SP1 reverts the search engine back to the 3.x version included in SP1, and the index is rebuilt.

A user’s favorite locations are stored as configuration files (.LNK) and are not removed when you uninstall Windows Search. After uninstalling, you can safely delete the .LNK files from this location:

%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Windows Search\My Search Locations

I'm not saying go ahead and do it...just searched and found the above....do ask others their opinions on the matter

[abdekker]

I'm a professional software developer (ie. very experienced) so went ahead and uninstalled Windows Search 4.0, confident that I would be able to sort out problems if any occured.

Unfortunately, there is one consequence that has me stumped - Windows XP now takes much longer to complete booting up. It shows the desktop image, then hangs around for about 3-4 minutes.

I've tried the following:
* Created a new Administrator account, set up all performance issues on this account (to make it fast), same problem;
* Checked the HKCU\...\Run and HKLM\...\Run registry entries to ensure Windows Search wasn't still trying something;
* Checked the Services to make sure everything looks good.

No joy. I think its probably best to NOT install this rubbish software - MS clearly didn't test uninstall before releasing it. I'm hoping that a later MS update will fix my problem.

Will post here again if I find whats causing the problem.

[abdekker]

Hi, I said I'd report back if I got it working, and I have:

* Right-click on C:\ and choose "Properties"
* Windows Search 4.0 will have ticked "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching", untick this box and apply to all sub-folders (this can take a few minutes to complete)
* Open up Services and disable the "Indexing Service" - there are no negative consequence to this, I always leave it disabled
* Reboot computer.

Now Windows XP loads up and shows the Taskbar in a few seconds instead of waiting around for 3-4 minutes! Huzzah!

Classic search now works fine and if its slightly slower then the new-fangled way, its not much slower...and it at least works.

I have now hidden this ridiculous update so that hopefully it will never darken my door again. I'll also be checking updates MS wants to install more carefully in future so that this does not slip under the radar.

[thebigh]

* Open up Services and disable the "Indexing Service" - there are no negative consequence to this, I always leave it disabled

Please excuse my ignorance, but how do you open up Services?

[Brian in Mesa]

Please excuse my ignorance, but how do you open up Services?

Here's one way:

Start > Run > services.msc

[Layceduptrax]

Go to "run" and Type in "msconfig". Then go to "Services" and down to "Indexing Service". BAAAAM you're done.:cool