Google Desktop Tip: Disable Future Indexing

As I earlier mentioned, I love Google Desktop for giving me quick access to my information, including web-based emails (Gmail, of course) even when I’m offline. But honestly sometimes I feel my system getting slower and slower as the days go by. And I just want to give it that performance boost so I can finish my work faster. Google Desktop, with its constant indexing can be one such performance hog. If you’re feeling the same, but you don’t want to remove Google desktop search altogether, here’s a quick tip: disable future indexing.

This means you still have quick access to information with a few keyboard strokes (ctrl-ctrl for search or shift-shift for gadgets). But assuming your computer was already 100% indexed before this move then you can still search within that past index.

To disable future indexing, open your Google Desktop Search properties by right clicking on the Google desktop tray icon and clicking Properties.

Once your preferences page has been opened in your browser, look for the checkbox that says Disable indexing of new items. New items will not be searchable.

Check that box. Once you have checked it, Google desktop search will no longer actively index your computer. Depending on how much data Google was indexing when you had this feature active, you will likely feel that your computer is faster.