How to prevent search indexer from affecting performance on Windows 10

The “Respect Device Power Mode Settings” feature on Windows 10 helps minimize high processor and hard drive usage as the system index the contents on your device, and these are the steps to enable it.

On Windows 10, the indexer is an essential feature designed to search and index all the contents (metadata, text, filename, extension, etc.) stored on your computer on a special database to make the Windows Search experience faster when you type anything on the search box available in the Start menu, taskbar, or File Explorer.

The problem is that the indexing process can sometimes cause performance issues. Also, since many users have been disabling the feature completely to mitigate the problem, starting with Windows 10 version 2004 (May 2020 Update), Microsoft introduced an option that, when enabled, pauses searching and updating of the database during certain power conditions to trade off performance to keep the battery running longer and prevent high disk or processor usage.

In this guide, you will learn the steps to enable the Windows Search indexer’s power option available with Windows 10 version 2004 and higher releases.

Enable Respect Device Power Mode Settings on Windows 10

To enable Windows Search indexer power mode, use these steps:

1. Open Settings on Windows 10.

2. Click on Search.

3. Click on Searching Windows.

4. Under the “Indexer Performance” section, turn on the “Respect Device Power Mode Settings” option.

   

Once you complete the steps, the indexer will stop searching and updating the database with new information in the background or throttle it down during certain times. For instance, when the device is in power saving mode, low power mode, or gaming mode. Or when the processor usage peaks 80 percent, or disk usage goes up above 70 percent.