The Microsoft Windows XP indexing service is a topic frequently discussed when it comes to performance tuning. The indexing service can adversely affect performance and especially when you are running Windows XP on a Netbook, you’ll want to disable any services that may slow down or hinder your experience.

The following instructions will show you how to disable the indexing service within Windows XP:

1. Double-click My Computer, point to Explorer Bar on the View menu, and then click Search.
2. Click Change preferences, and then click Without Indexing Service.
3. Click No, do not enable Indexing Service, and then click OK.

The above instructions can be found on Microsofts web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899869

Use of the indexing service however can be useful and can be tweaked to your requirements. If you do require the use of the indexing service, if for example you would like to search your “my documents” folder but not others, the following article explores the Indexing service options in more depth:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-22_11-5533688.html