The Indexing Service is very useful if you carry out frequent searches across your network. It works in the background to build an index of documents on your network, which then speeds up subsequent searching by storing the information locally on your computer, so your computer doesn't have to repeatedly scan the entire network every time you want to search for something. This is especially beneficial in certain conditions, such as when you have a slow network connection.

By default, the Indexing Service is switched off in Windows, mainly because if it is not needed (on a high-speed network for instance), constant re-indexing of the network can be irritating to users.

In order to activate the Indexing Service, firstly, you need to bring up the Control Panel. Click on ‘Start – Control Panel', as shown below:

The following display may now come up (but if your display is different, see the note below). Double-click on ‘Administrative Tools' as shown:

If the display is as shown below after you click on ‘Control Panel', then you need to click on ‘Performance and Maintenance' before you can click on ‘Administrative Tools'.

When the ‘Administrative Tools' windows comes up (as shown below), then double-click on ‘Services' as shown:

Now scroll down the list that appears and find the ‘Indexing Service'. The settings should be ‘Status – Blank' and ‘Startup Type – Manual' as shown:

Now click on the ‘Start' button just below ‘Service Status'. The following window will pop up to show the service starting, and will disappear once the service has started:

Click on ‘OK' to close the window. The service should now appear in the Services List as ‘Status – Started' and ‘Startup Type – Automatic' as shown:

Finally, return to the desktop by dismissing the ‘Services' window and the ‘Control Panel' window using the Red X in the top-right corner of each window.

The Indexing service is now configured for use on your PC. It will run in the background, collecting data from your network drives and local drives. You may experience some minor disruptions for a few days whilst it builds up its index (the disruption will take the form of excessive hard-drive activity, leading to a computer that sometimes responds slowly), but the idea of the service is to speed up future searches.