Search indexer causing high CPU utilization

[Richj44]

Since upgrading to Win 11 I've noticed that the Microsoft Windows Search Indexer is showing anywhere from 10% to 40% CPU Utilization in Task Manager. I never noticed this behavior in 10, but I suppose it's possible. What concerns me is that the Search Indexer is apparently *always* at this degree of utilization, whenever I happen to check. I would expect it to run for a while, finish indexing, and go away for a while.

Anyone else notice this? Is it worth trying to troubleshoot? I've stopped and restarted the service but it hasn't helped.

 

[Trouble]

In searching the Feedback Hub, I found multiple threads / posts that site this or a similar issue.


In which they note some fixes applied to a recent Insider Preview

[Search]

• Fixed a recent issue that was causing the indexer database to become too fragmented, leading to the indexer unexpectedly consuming a large amount of memory and CPU for a prolonged period of time. This was particularly noticeable for people that have large Outlook mailboxes.

SOURCE: https://blogs.windows.com/windows-i...ncing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-22494/

SO.... it would seem that they are aware of the issue and suggest that a "fix" might be coming in a "future build".
Which I hope means that, they'll be passing it along via a cumulative update to those running the public release shortly.

 

[Richj44]

Thank you! I never thought of using the Feedback Hub to search but I'm glad you did. My Outlook mailbox is over 3 Gb, so I'm guessing that counts as large. I'll keep an eye out for potential fixes in future updates. Thanks again.

 

[Trouble]

You're welcome.
Might be time to do a little cleanup and then archiving on that .pst file
I like to keep mine at a Gig or less.
You can always mount an archive.pst right from within Outlook if you need to take a look at some older email.

I know 3 gigs is nowhere near the new limits for .pst size, but going back a couple decades, historically...
I've learned the value of some adages, like...
Better safe than sorry
AND
Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I also image the drive that hosts my pst files regularly.

 

[Richj44]

And thanks for the suggestions, they are good ones. It's only a couple of months since I last imaged the drive, but I will definitely do some whittling on that pst file size.