Why Does Windows Search Reindex?

Windows Search is a utility that is built in to Windows that lets you search through all the data on your computer for various types of files. The search function is actually quite complex, and in order to give you accurate results in a timely manner, it must first index the appropriate files on your hard drive.

What Indexing Is

When Windows Search indexes your hard drive, it is essentially looking through all the files on your computer and making a record of what they are and where they are located. This allows searches to be performed quickly because the computer won't have to scan your entire hard drive every time you look for something; it will already have a record of where those things are.

How Indexing Works

Before Windows Search indexes your hard drive, the search index doesn't exist. Search scans your hard drive for important files, folders and data from certain default directories to add to the index. This is a processor-intensive task, so while you can work while it is going on, it may slow down your other processes until it is finished. Search makes a record of where all your files are and adds it to the index, which is then used to expedite searches in the future.

What Is Indexed

By default, only certain directories are indexed. Your entire computer isn't added, because if the index is too large, searches would end up being slow. Most of your personal documents, such as music, pictures, text data, emails and offline data, are added to the index. System files and program files are not often added. This ensures that whenever you are looking for one of your own files on the computer, the search results will show up faster.

How To Rebuild the Index

Sometimes the search process can become slow and your index cumbersome; by rebuilding the index, you can start from scratch to recreate it, improve your search results and improve speed. To do this, open your Control Panel, open "System and Maintenance," then click "Indexing Options." Click "Advanced"; then click "Rebuild" under the "Index Settings" tab." This process will take a lot of time and your computer will probably slow down while it rebuilds, so if you need to do this, consider running this process overnight or while you are away from the computer.