Start Menu search is really slow

[unquist]

I've been using Win 7 x64 for about a month and a half, and up until about a week ago, it was fine. But suddenly, when I open the start menu and start typing the name of a program, it takes a really long time to search for the results. They used to start showing up as I was typing. Now for example, if i type in 'calculator' it takes about 20-30 seconds before anything appears. When I watch task manager as i type, the cpu usage goes up to 50%, one entire core! I fiddeled with the indexing so it was only indexing the Start Menu directory and the Users directory, as well as rebuilding the index a few times. Nothing has helped.

This happened suddenly as well: there was no slow degredation

note: other than this, performance of windows and other apps is excellent.

Also: I've definitely installed a lot of software in the last few weeks, but no new hardware.

Help!

(edit System specs):
Windows 7 64-bit
Intel core 2 duo e6600 @ 2.40 ghz
4gb ddr2 ram
ati radeon 5700
250 gb sata HD

 

[richc46]

welcome to the Forum

Search has to go through everything that you installed.

This may help though


Vista Hack: How to speed up search - Computerworld Blogs

Should work equally well with Windows 7

 

[unquist]

The property screen those instructions guide you to is different than the one pictured. I think that feature changed b/w Vista and 7.

 

[unquist]

So I changed the search indexing so that it's only indexing the Start Menu folder, and nothing else. That amounts to about 200 items total in the index, and search is still running extremely slowly. There has to be something else going on here.

 

[richc46]

What program/software have you installed recently? The more you have the longer search will take.

You can try a system restore from before the problem, also. But you will lose all the newly installed programs etc.

 

[whs]

Find out what processes eat the 50% CPU - either with Task Manager or with Process Explorer.

 

[unquist]

It's explorer.exe that's using the 50% cpu.

Also, I can't imagine that I installed so many programs that they are slowing down the search. I looked at the search index property page (in the control panel), and it shows 422 items indexed. That seems like a pretty small amount.

In the meantime, I found this launch application:

Executor

This is super fast, and does the trick. But I'd still like to fix windows search. Seems silly to use a third party app to do what windows is already capable of.

 

[unquist]

As for programs installed recently. A few games (most via Steam), a few smaller applications (google earth, comic rack).

I recently updated my ATI drivers from 9.9 to 10.1. Could that have made a difference?

 

[richc46]

The problem began recently and the changes that you made were recent, I think that is the first place to look.

 

[Urbwolf]

I had the same problem started a day or two ago, Tracked it down to windows update either (KB978506) or (KB977074), Simply uninstalling the updates did not work I had to do a system restore for it to work again, To confirm i reinstalled those updates after restore and problem was back. System process did not show anything over 12% cpu usage. Hopefully this is helpfull for you.

 

[severedsolo]

So I changed the search indexing so that it's only indexing the Start Menu folder, and nothing else. That amounts to about 200 items total in the index, and search is still running extremely slowly. There has to be something else going on here.

and that is your problem right there.... you have only indexed the start menu, search doesnt just search the start menu, it searches EVERYTHING! if you have got rid of your indexes, then its manually searching each time.....

 

[unquist]

@severedsolo: That would explain the slowness. Is there some way to restrict the results that search returns, rather than just what it indexes (which is what I've apparently restricted)?

@Urbwolf: I did install those patches around the time the problem started, though I'm not sure if they exactly coincide. If true, I guess I just have to wait for a patch to fix the patch.

 

[JustinMP91]

I have also been experiencing this issue, and I haven't installed anything new recently. I was doing a google search in the hopes of finding a way to fix the problem, but I found this post instead.

I'm inclined to say that it probably was the recent update. I have updates set to install automatically, and nothing else has changed.. so it makes sense to me.

I went from Windows XP directly to Windows 7 (never used Vista) and I find that I use the start menu search all the time. It's nice to be able to just type "notepad" and have notepad come up. Unfortunately, now I have to wait 10-15 seconds just for it to bring up whatever I search for, where before it was maybe 2 seconds.

 

[leo85]

I had this same issue, and was ready to do a system restore to remove the 2 latest updates, but it appears to have fixed itself now...
How bizarre!

 

[unquist]

Wow. I went back and tried again after I saw leo85's response, and lo and behold, it does appear to have fixed itself! Nothing's changed since when it was broken, except for the date. Apparently search decided to slow down at the end of January and speed up again when February was underway. Crazy!

 

[Jbonbright]

Slow response from "Search programs and files?" Delete the profile.

Deleting my profile resolved the issue for me.

It would take up to thirty seconds to get any response from typing something like "notepad" in the "Search programs and files" box in the Start Menu. On other systems, notepad.exe would have been found before even typing in the entire word. Ditto for anything else - "cmd", "mstsc," etc.

After struggling with this issue for months, trying this and that, I was ready to just rebuild the system when I thought about profiles and how often corrupted ones can lead a wide variety of strange problems that seem to just start all of a sudden.

So, I logged in as another admin user in my domain and, voila, no delay at all. I then deleted the problem profile (My Computer ~ Properties ~ Advanced System Settings ~ Advanced tab ~ Settings button in the User Profiles section). I then logged on as that problem user, a new profile was created, and the problem has gone away.

Should have thought about that a LONG time ago. Doh!