Windows 8.1 search charm slow, with explorer.exe CPU usage at 100%
Since upgrading to Windows 8.1 this weekend, the Search feature became pretty useless. When I start typing, it sends my CPU usage to 100% (Task Manager shows Windows Explorer as the main offender), and results are pretty slow. The funny thing is, I have a i7 with 8 logical cores, and this is one of the rare times a single program actually manages to utilize all of them at once. :)
Some searches which worked earlier (e.g. typing "devices" would bring out a "Devices and printers" link for the Control Panel) also aren't shown anymore if "Everything" is selected for searching. If I select "Settings" in the drop-down, then the "Devices and settings" link is shown, but it takes around 3s for the results to show up making the whole thing useless.
I tried disabling the Windows Search service completely (although it's not the one peaking the CPU), but it didn't help. Also disabled Bing web search integration in PC settings, but it didn't change anything (apart from the web results now being omitted from the slow search).
I have found a couple of similar threads online, but they don't offer any solutions:
- Windows 8.1 explorer.exe sends CPU to 100% when searching in Metro interface
- Windows 8.1 preview search charm loads 100% CPU
- Windows 8.1 search causes explorer.exe to spike to 100%
Does anyone have a similar problem, and possibly a solution to this problem?
Since I've accustomed to hitting the Windows button and typing immediately to start my apps, I am considering two obvious solutions:
- Reinstall plain old Windows 8 again
- Install a third-pary Start menu app with a working search functionality
Solution 1:
I've analyzed a xperf trace that an user gave me on technet, and the fix is to add the AppData folder, which is part of your Userprofile, back to the Search-Index.
Solution 2:
Adding X:\Users\[YOURUSERNAME]\AppData\Local\Packages to the index (through Indexing Options) fixes this. Alternatively you can also add the whole AppData folder as previously suggested but it seems a bit overkill to me.
Solution 3:
Adding the AppData folder back to the Search-Index is not working for me. But after inspecting with Process Monitor, I found out that Explorer will continue search all files and folders in Libraries (which is disable by default in Windows 8.1) until it is completed. Bring Libraries back by http://lifehacker.com/how-to-bring-libraries-back-in-windows-8-1-1446756473 and remove all folders in Libraries or add them to Search-Index.