Search Indexer Pegs CPU

[WJB]

Hi,

My CPU is being constantly pegged by the SearchIndexer.exe program (I'm
guessing it's a service), and it gets even worse as soon as I open Windows
Explorer. I haven't consciously done anything to "turn it on". I looked for
the Indexing Service, which I used to find listed under Services in the WinXP
Computer Management Console. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Is there a way I can control this service, say, by turning it off when I'm
running other stuff, then later turning it on when I'm not? And shouldn't it
be running at a lower priority anyway?

Thanks

WJB

 

[WJB]

Thanks, Bob. But herein lies my main question. How do I turn it off.
Superfetch is listed in the Services list, but Indexing Service is not. How
can I access it to turn it off?

I also tried turning off Superfetch, but it did not make any difference.

As for my firewall, anti-virus and security suite, I'm running Norton 360
which includes all of the above. I've been running it for several months and
I don't think it has been contributing that much based on the Task Manager's
Processes display. For instance, right now, SearchIndexer.exe is taking up
about 60% of the CPU while System Idle Process is accounting for about 35%.
The remaining 5% or so are distributed between TaskMgr.exe, ccSvsHst.exe
(which I think is the Norton 360 main service). So, SearchIndexer is the
overwhelming culprit. So again, how do I access it to turn it off?

Thanks for helping me out.

WJB

Indexing and Superfetch require a lot of CPU activity.

Run (WinKey+R) services.msc.

You may want to keep Indexing turned off. It will slow your searches down a
bit but I find searching without Indexing adequate. Also consider turning
off Superfetch.

What firewall, anti-virus application or security suite is installed? There
are some that are RAM hogs.

How much RAM are you running?
-------
*Report back, please*
[When responding to posts, please include the post(s) you are replying to so
that others may learn and benefit from the issue]

[How to ask a question]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Hi,

My CPU is being constantly pegged by the SearchIndexer.exe program (I'm
guessing it's a service), and it gets even worse as soon as I open Windows
Explorer. I haven't consciously done anything to "turn it on". I looked
for
the Indexing Service, which I used to find listed under Services in the
WinXP
Computer Management Console. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Is there a way I can control this service, say, by turning it off when I'm
running other stuff, then later turning it on when I'm not? And shouldn't
it
be running at a lower priority anyway?

Thanks

WJB

 

[Charles W Davis]

I uninstall approximately one Norton system a week in my role as House Call
Tech for our computer club.
Problems such as the one that you describe simply disappear. I install
either of the free AV programs; 1. http://free.grisoft.com or 2.
http://www.avast.com
Turn on your Windows Firewall after installations are complete.

Thanks, Bob. But herein lies my main question. How do I turn it off.
Superfetch is listed in the Services list, but Indexing Service is not.
How
can I access it to turn it off?

I also tried turning off Superfetch, but it did not make any difference.

As for my firewall, anti-virus and security suite, I'm running Norton 360
which includes all of the above. I've been running it for several months
and
I don't think it has been contributing that much based on the Task
Manager's
Processes display. For instance, right now, SearchIndexer.exe is taking up
about 60% of the CPU while System Idle Process is accounting for about
35%.
The remaining 5% or so are distributed between TaskMgr.exe, ccSvsHst.exe
(which I think is the Norton 360 main service). So, SearchIndexer is the
overwhelming culprit. So again, how do I access it to turn it off?

Thanks for helping me out.

WJB

Indexing and Superfetch require a lot of CPU activity.

Run (WinKey+R) services.msc.

You may want to keep Indexing turned off. It will slow your searches down
a
bit but I find searching without Indexing adequate. Also consider turning
off Superfetch.

What firewall, anti-virus application or security suite is installed?
There
are some that are RAM hogs.

How much RAM are you running?
-------
*Report back, please*
[When responding to posts, please include the post(s) you are replying to
so
that others may learn and benefit from the issue]

[How to ask a question]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Hi,

My CPU is being constantly pegged by the SearchIndexer.exe program (I'm
guessing it's a service), and it gets even worse as soon as I open
Windows
Explorer. I haven't consciously done anything to "turn it on". I looked
for
the Indexing Service, which I used to find listed under Services in the
WinXP
Computer Management Console. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Is there a way I can control this service, say, by turning it off when
I'm
running other stuff, then later turning it on when I'm not? And
shouldn't
it
be running at a lower priority anyway?

Thanks

WJB

 

[WJB]

I think I found it. It's WSearch.exe, which I changed to Manual (though I had
to reboot in order to actually stop it). The CPU is now running at 80-90%
idle.

Thanks again for your help, Bob.

Indexing and Superfetch require a lot of CPU activity.

Run (WinKey+R) services.msc.

You may want to keep Indexing turned off. It will slow your searches down a
bit but I find searching without Indexing adequate. Also consider turning
off Superfetch.

What firewall, anti-virus application or security suite is installed? There
are some that are RAM hogs.

How much RAM are you running?
-------
*Report back, please*
[When responding to posts, please include the post(s) you are replying to so
that others may learn and benefit from the issue]

[How to ask a question]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Hi,

My CPU is being constantly pegged by the SearchIndexer.exe program (I'm
guessing it's a service), and it gets even worse as soon as I open Windows
Explorer. I haven't consciously done anything to "turn it on". I looked
for
the Indexing Service, which I used to find listed under Services in the
WinXP
Computer Management Console. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Is there a way I can control this service, say, by turning it off when I'm
running other stuff, then later turning it on when I'm not? And shouldn't
it
be running at a lower priority anyway?

Thanks

WJB

 

[LesleyO]

I fail to understand why Norton is constantly blamed for CPU load. My Vista
Home Premium Core 2 Duo cores run at only around 5% each, at the most,
unless I'm multitasking, as I am right now with a couple of programs running
and several online windows open. Even now, I'm under 50% in total. I've set
Norton to do its hard work in the wee small hours when I'm sleeping.

I've been using Norton for several years on all three of my computers (XP
desktop, Vista desktop, XP laptop) and have had no problems with any of the
three.

LesleyO

I uninstall approximately one Norton system a week in my role as House Call
Tech for our computer club.
Problems such as the one that you describe simply disappear. I install
either of the free AV programs; 1. http://free.grisoft.com or 2.
http://www.avast.com
Turn on your Windows Firewall after installations are complete.

Thanks, Bob. But herein lies my main question. How do I turn it off.
Superfetch is listed in the Services list, but Indexing Service is not.
How
can I access it to turn it off?

I also tried turning off Superfetch, but it did not make any difference.

As for my firewall, anti-virus and security suite, I'm running Norton 360
which includes all of the above. I've been running it for several months
and
I don't think it has been contributing that much based on the Task
Manager's
Processes display. For instance, right now, SearchIndexer.exe is taking
up
about 60% of the CPU while System Idle Process is accounting for about
35%.
The remaining 5% or so are distributed between TaskMgr.exe, ccSvsHst.exe
(which I think is the Norton 360 main service). So, SearchIndexer is the
overwhelming culprit. So again, how do I access it to turn it off?

Thanks for helping me out.

WJB

Indexing and Superfetch require a lot of CPU activity.

Run (WinKey+R) services.msc.

You may want to keep Indexing turned off. It will slow your searches
down a
bit but I find searching without Indexing adequate. Also consider
turning
off Superfetch.

What firewall, anti-virus application or security suite is installed?
There
are some that are RAM hogs.

How much RAM are you running?
-------
*Report back, please*
[When responding to posts, please include the post(s) you are replying
to so
that others may learn and benefit from the issue]

[How to ask a question]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Hi,

My CPU is being constantly pegged by the SearchIndexer.exe program
(I'm
guessing it's a service), and it gets even worse as soon as I open
Windows
Explorer. I haven't consciously done anything to "turn it on". I
looked
for
the Indexing Service, which I used to find listed under Services in
the
WinXP
Computer Management Console. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Is there a way I can control this service, say, by turning it off when
I'm
running other stuff, then later turning it on when I'm not? And
shouldn't
it
be running at a lower priority anyway?

Thanks

WJB

 

[WJB]

That's pretty scary, Bob. To be honest, except for the infamous Norton
SystemWorks (which I had installed on an older Win 98 machine more for the
old Norton Utililties than anything else), I haven't experienced any
significant problems with Norton products, though admittedly I've mainly used
their AntiVirus in the past. This is my first attempt to run a more
comprehensive Symantec product and I've had some misgivings about it, like
you now cannot scan specific files or folders -- it's all "automatic". In the
past, I'd been quite happy with Norton AntiVirus, Windows Defender and
Windows Firewall. Maybe I'll go back to a similar setup.

BTW, thanks for the links. I've dowloaded the two antivirus programs and the
Norton Removal Tool (I've also run into the problem where uninstalling Norton
products does not completely remove them. They used to have a Removal Tool
for removing NAV 2000-2003 as well).

Two questions now though:

1. Which of the two antivirus programs you suggested do you favor?
2. Norton 360 also has a good backup process. I've tried it and also tried
Windows backup. Windows Backup is fine except that it does not support
Network drives, at least not pre-SP1 (which I haven't installed yet). Do you
kow how I can perform such a backup and/or does SP1 add support for network
drives?

Thank you very much for your continued help.

WJB

You're welcome WJB. Glad to hear you've got things under control. Thanks for
the feedback.

Re: Norton

IF (that's a BIG IF) Norton was not contributing to the problem, it's only a
matter of time before it causes another problem.
I strongly recommend you replace Norton with the free AVG
http://free.grisoft.com/ or Avast
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html, and Windows Firewall and Windows
Defender. Disabling Norton is not enough. You need to completely uninstall
it. Norton is known to cause many problems which don’t always appear
immediately.
Download and run the Norton Removal Tool.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005033108162039

It's called "360" because Symantec's goal is complete ownership of your
computer, and with even less communication about what it's trying to do or
ways to configure it than ever before (which would only interfere with its
goal.) That, along with Symantec's famous technical support, makes Norton
360 a disaster that I would only install on Granny's computer if she was
going to disinherit me.
-------
*Report back, please*
[When responding to posts, please include the post(s) you are replying to so
that others may learn and benefit from the issue]

[How to ask a question]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

I think I found it. It's WSearch.exe, which I changed to Manual (though I
had
to reboot in order to actually stop it). The CPU is now running at 80-90%
idle.

Thanks again for your help, Bob.

Indexing and Superfetch require a lot of CPU activity.

Run (WinKey+R) services.msc.

You may want to keep Indexing turned off. It will slow your searches down
a
bit but I find searching without Indexing adequate. Also consider turning
off Superfetch.

What firewall, anti-virus application or security suite is installed?
There
are some that are RAM hogs.

How much RAM are you running?
-------
*Report back, please*
[When responding to posts, please include the post(s) you are replying to
so
that others may learn and benefit from the issue]

[How to ask a question]
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

Hi,

My CPU is being constantly pegged by the SearchIndexer.exe program (I'm
guessing it's a service), and it gets even worse as soon as I open
Windows
Explorer. I haven't consciously done anything to "turn it on". I looked
for
the Indexing Service, which I used to find listed under Services in the
WinXP
Computer Management Console. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate.

Is there a way I can control this service, say, by turning it off when
I'm
running other stuff, then later turning it on when I'm not? And
shouldn't
it
be running at a lower priority anyway?

Thanks

WJB