SearchFilterHost.exe

I have encountered some strange behavior today while moving a large folder from one hard drive to another - in the middle of the process the moving stopped to a grinding halt and the CPU got basically maxed out by the process SearchFilterHost.exe. It was "working" like that for a long time, about 10 minutes, then the move continued.

While this is the only time I've experienced that, it's rather annoying that such a thing is possible. After all moving files is as basic as OS functions get. This occurrence tells me that somehow the file moving is not optimized on my machine. Any suggestions?

Try defragging, as Dinesh suggested. In addition, try disabling the Windows Search service. SearchFilterHost.exe is the process for Windows Search and is involved in indexing, caching, etc.

To disable the Windows Search Service, follow these steps:

Click Start and type services in the Start / Search box..
In the Programs list, click Services.
Scroll down and locate the service Windows Search.
Right-click this service, then click Properties.
Set the Startup Type to Disabled.
Click Stop to stop the service, and then click OK.
Restart the computer.

Well, I know that this the search service. So, let me rephrase the question:

Is there any way to configure the search service so that it does not try to update its index during file operations, but only does so at some particular time?