This Small Change Gave My Slow Windows PC a Huge Speed Boost
1 min read
Summary
On a Windows machine, it’s likely that over time the performance will reduce and the machine will slow down as more background services are introduced.
Search indexing is one such service that scans files, emails and other data to make search more efficient, but it uses a lot of CPU power and disk activity, especially on older machines.
The Windows Update Medic Service automatically keeps Windows update running smoothly, but it regularly checks for updates and downloads installation files, which can impact performance.
To limit or turn off search indexing, open Indexing Options, click Modify and deselect any folders or drives that don’t need indexing, then click OK.
To disable search indexing entirely, go to Services, find Windows Search, right-click, hit Properties and set Startup type to Disabled before clicking Stop.
To disable the Windows Update Medic Service, navigate to HKLM > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Services > WaaSMedicSvc in Registry Editor, double-click Start, change the value to 4 and click OK. Restart your PC. This will stop updates interrupting, but updates will need to be installed manually.
