SASANK@TECHNOMANIA

When a users enters text in the search box on the start panel Windows automatically searches the file index as well. The file index includes all of the searchable files on your hard drive and can be quite large. One way to speed up searching through your start menu applications is to narrow the scope of the search so that it does not include hard drive files.

Prevent Start Menu Searches from searching the File index:

1. Open Registry Editor (regedit).

2. Navigate through HKEY_CURRENT_USER, Software, Microsoft, Windows, CurrentVersion, Explorer and finally Advanced.

3. Find and right click on Start_SearchFiles and select Modify.

4. Set the Value to 0.

Restart the Explorer.exe process or just reboot your computer.

ALSO............

The search box on the new Start Menu in Windows Vista can be very useful for everyday tasks. This search box is very powerful because not only does it search the start menu and control panel, but it also searches your pictures, documents and even your e-mails. The scope of the search is very wide and you can see some performance benefits if you narrow it down to just searching the start menu and control panel. Follow these steps to optimize your start menu search:

1. Right click on the start button and select Properties.
   
2. Click on the Customize button.
3. Remove the check from Search Communications.
4. Set Search Files to Don't search for files.
   
5. Click OK.
6. Click OK once more.