It sounds like it might be a physical failure of part of the GPU in your second system.  Try swapping the cards between the system to see if the problem follows a particular card.

-Noel

Disable Indexing

Indexing is supposed to make it quick and easy to find things on your computer using Windows Search (that little box at the upper-right of Explorer windows).

But when you think about it, does it make sense to read all the files on your disk, extract everything you could possibly want to search for, and store it on that same disk another way?  To even consider indexing providing better performance than just searching the files, Microsoft must be picking and choosing the data they think you'll want to look for (excluding data you WON'T want to search for), where you'll want to search, and in what kinds of files, and in fact they are.  How could they know everything you'll ever want to search for? 

They can't.  Not everything is indexed, and never will be!

Try this:  Create a simple text file on your disk, in a temporary folder.  Call it "FindMe.log" and put in the text "This file contains important tax information".  Now navigate to that folder with Explorer and enter the word "tax" into the Search box at the upper-right.  Enter any of the words in that file!  Windows Search will not find the file, because it simply does not LOOK in .log files by default, and there's no fallback strategy - Windows Search simply does not index nor search for information for some kinds of files. Incredible!

All it takes is ONE TIME searching for something you know is there and NOT finding it to destroy your confidence in Windows Search.

And so they scan through your files endlessly, pick out the strings you might someday search for, and store them in yet another set of files (the "index").  As though your computer has nothing better to do.

Not only is the basic premise of this wrong, but it's not even implemented very well.  The index often becomes corrupted, and so Microsoft has provided functions for you to clear and regenerate it.  Just what you wanted to be doing - NOT.

Consider these shortcomings:

• Some file types are simply not indexed or searched by default – e.g., .log files, and there's no fallback.  If you create a new file type no one's seen before, its contents will not be indexed.

• Only strings they think you are likely to search for are indexed.

• Because of poor implementation, indexing will miss things in some file types that are indexed – e.g., older Microsoft Word documents or files containing Unicode text (Microsoft's own invention).

• Indexes often become corrupted and the Windows Search results fall out of date or it stops finding things entirely.

• Indexing operations use computer time, increase disk wear, and interfere with your own access to your files.

In summary, indexed Windows Search operations in Windows 7 simply can't be trusted to find your data in your files when it's critical, and so they're essentially useless.  Searching for filenames using Windows Search actually can be occasionally useful (though the syntax to ensure it searches only filenames is a bit tricky), but this doesn't require indexing.

Moreover, indexing can actually interfere with file operations, causing your system to report disk corruption, because of an implementation error in indexing and NTFS (search the web for "Atomic Oplock", for example).

So indexing should simply and utterly be disabled.  This won't actually stop you being able to try Windows Search - on the contrary with indexing off Windows 7 will actually search your actual files (within the limitations listed above) just when you tell it to, and (since indexing isn't implemented very well) it may actually INCREASE the probability that you might find what you're looking for.

Here's how to disable indexing:

1. Click Start and enter services in the search box.
2. When Services (with little gears) comes up, click it.
3. Scroll down to the Windows Search service.
4. Right click it and choose Properties.
5. Change the Startup type to Disabled.
6. Click [ Stop ] to stop the service.
7. Click [ OK ].
8. Click Start and enter index in the search box.
9. When Indexing options comes up, click it.
10. Click the Advanced button.
11. Click the [ Rebuild ] button to delete the index.
12. It is a good idea to reboot after this.

So your searches work properly and you're not nagged by Windows to reenable indexing:

1. Open a Windows Explorer window.
2. Choose Tools – Folder Options.
3. Click the Search tab.
4. Click the button next to "Don't use the index when searching in file folders for system files (searches might take longer)".
5. Click Start and type group policy into the search box.
6. When Edit Group Policy comes up, click it.
7. Navigate to User Configuration – Administrative Templates – Windows Components – Windows Explorer.
8. Enable the Turn off Windows Libraries features that rely on indexed file data entry.
9. If you do not have the Group Policy Editor on your version of Windows, change this registry entry:
   
   HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
   
   DisableIndexedLibraryExperience = 1

Another tweak...

Speed Up NTFS File Access

When Windows accesses a directory or file on an NTFS volume, whether just for reading or not, it updates the "Last Accessed" time stamp.  Since many files are typically accessed in a read-only fashion, this results in a lot more disk writes than you'd expect.

Very few programs rely on the "Last Accessed" time stamp, and if you don't personally plan to use it (via the Properties menu for a file or folder), then you can disable this update:

Execute this command:

   fsutil behavior set DisableLastAccess 1

Alternatively, add or change this registry value, if it is not already set:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]

    "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001

---------------------

The Windows 7 file system also still generates old 8.3 format file names for each file you store on your disk.  Unless you have old (ancient) applications that require 8.3 filenames, you can disable creation of the 8.3 format filename to increase performance a little more:

Execute this command:

    fsutil 8dot3name set 1

Alternatively, add or change this registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]

    "NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation"=dword:00000001

-Noel

Oops, I noticed the second half of your question.

If you need to, create a new Key under HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows called Explorer, then create the DisableIndexedLibraryExperience value.

-Noel

DaveMcKeen wrote:

 

When we stop the Windows Search service do we not stop search results from showing up in Start/Search?

No, I promise.  I would not stand for that.

In your Search tab that you've shown above, try setting the "Always search file names and contents (this might take several minutes).

This is what I have set:

If changing these settings doesn't work, I suspect there may have been a problem with that Explorer key you had to add to the Registry.  Can you open that key and do a screen grab please?  Maybe something's not quite right there.  Here's what mine looks like:

-Noel

Nope, I see the problem.

Your DisableIndexedLibraryExperience value in the registry is a string, not a DWORD.

Delete it and add it again as a new DWORD value.

-Noel

Did you log off and on again after making that change?

-Noel

Even something else to check...

Under HKEY_CURRENT_USER:

  \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

Do you see any values of the following form?

  NoSearchXXXXXXInStartMenu

-Noel

Change that Start_SearchPrograms value to 2.

This is the meaning of the various values:

Don't search: 0

Search with public folders: 2

Search without public folders: 1

I don't think there are any public folders in the Start menu, but 2 seems the most liberal setting.

-Noel