Vista Hack: How to speed up search

When you first install Vista, its search feature seems lightning fast. Over time, it gets sluggish. Here's how to speed it up --- and it'll take you only two minutes to do it.

Most of the time when you do a search, it's via the Start menu Search box. So I'll show you how to speed up searches launched from the Start menu.

Why does Vista search slow down? Over time, you accumulate files, programs, emails, contacts, and more. Search even looks through your Favorites and your browsing history. All this means that Vista has a lot of data to search through. So your searches tend to get slower.

The key to speeding it up is to exclude the kind of data from search that you usually don't look for. That way, search has lots less data to look through. To do it, first right-click the Start button and choose Properties. Then click "Customize" next to the Start menu entry. The Customize Start Menu dialog box appears. Scroll toward the bottom, and you'll see the screen below.

Now Uncheck boxes next to any type of content you don't want to search. So, for example, if you only want to search for files, uncheck the box next to Search programs, Search communications, and Search favorites and history. On the other hand, if you only want to search for emails, keep the Search communications box checked, and uncheck the others. After you're done making your choices, Click OK, and then OK again.

That's all it takes. Search will be sped up considerably.