Hi Mark,

Start by removing some software, particulary anything that loads at boot.
That would include your antivirus application. It doesn't have to be malware
to interfere, anything that alters, adds, or removes files can potentially
be a cause.

One of the main changes in Vista, as opposed to every other version of
Windows thus far, is the implementation of using the least user privileges
necessary for normal operation, and this includes the administrator. Much
malware takes advantage of the elevation that most users run with to install
surreptitiously, and that can't happen in Vista. This is actually not a new
idea, Linux has been using it for years. In order to implement this new
security design, many of the loopholes that allowed things like the settings
change you want had to be locked down.

FWIW, I have Vista running on several machines with varying hardware and
software installed with nary a crash on any of them. In fact, the only
machine that was having stop errors turned out to be a bad stick of ram. If
Vista were like XP, then it wouldn't be Vista.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"CerfurMark" <CerfurMark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:04D2613E-A35A-481C-9D30-EA9FFAECBB12@microsoft.com...
> Hi Rick,
>
> I do appreciate your responses.
>
> I always see that SearchIndexer starts as Normal priority. I always have
> to go set it to Low Priority. And since it's a SYSTEM process, I always
> have
> to go through this whole step of Show All Processes and the UAC. I've
> read
> all the articles about how SearchIndexer is supposed to working quietly
> and
> efficiently in the background and is not supposed to be noticable by the
> user, but that certainly isn't the case for me. I will say that I have
> Windows Defender and Avast Antivirus and Windows Firewall, so there
> shouldn't
> be any malware. There is a third-party backup process I use called
> Carbonite, which may possibly be causing SearchIndexer to get busy. It's
> really hard for me to tell. How can another process "interfere" with
> SearchIndexer? What requirements does SearchIndexer have so that it is
> not
> interferred with?
>
> I'm sure that all of this is complex, but it's extremely hard for me to
> believe that Microsoft engineers could not figure out a way to store the
> state of the task manager Show All Processes check box. It seems to
> remember
> the column names fine. I am the only user and I am an administrator with
> full priveleges, so how is it that my computer doesn't believe I am who I
> say
> I am? It allowed me to log on as Administrator, so there must be some
> sort
> of trust there. Why would an administrator not be able to see processes
> from
> other users, especially system processes?
>
> I certainly agree that Vista is vastly different than XP, but I do want
> to
> complain to somebody that it is vastly worse. It's far slower and far
> more
> combersome to use. I remember when I got XP and I thought, "Hey, this is
> really an improvement. Speedy and hardly crashes.". That's not how I
> think
> about Vista. I think it would be really great if they went back to the
> drawing board and made Vista be like XP.
>
> Mark
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi Mark,
>>
>> So disable indexing on that drive if you find it annoying. It's a low
>> priority process though, and I suspect that's not the real issue. If it's
>> not settling down after a few days, then I suspect something else is
>> interfering with it.
>>
>> Vista is vastly different than XP, and if processes for all users were to
>> be
>> shown each time TM is opened it would also involve an additional UAC
>> prompt
>> for elevated privileges. In Vista, nothing runs in that mode without the
>> user's explicit consent. For TM to open with that level by default means
>> that the permissions used could also be exploited by malware.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "CerfurMark" <CerfurMark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:5DE6F7F9-68A1-4802-A440-17E27229C30C@microsoft.com...
>> > Hello,
>> > In XP, I could check the "Show all processes" check box and it would
>> > remember for next time. Why have they made this not work? I've had
>> > Vista
>> > for almost a year and I still hate it. SearchIndexer.exe is always
>> > running
>> > and making all this noise on my hard disk and spiking my CPU up and
>> > down,
>> > so
>> > I'm always looking at TaskManger to set it to low priority or kill it.
>> > Forcing me to have to press the Show all processes button every time I
>> > start
>> > Task Manager and then go through the UAC is just one more irritation on
>> > top
>> > of the SearchIndexer irritation.
>> > Mark
>> >
>> > "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> There is no setting to enable that, you will have to initiate it each
>> >> time
>> >> you load Task Manager.
>> >>
>> >> I woud concentrate my efforts on isolating whatever software is
>> >> causing
>> >> the
>> >> slowdown issue. Full malware scans in safe mode with up to date
>> >> antivirus
>> >> and antispyware programs would be a good first step.
>> >>
>> >> --
>> >> Best of Luck,
>> >>
>> >> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> >> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> >> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> >> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>> >>
>> >> "CerfurMark" <CerfurMark@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:1FA8BD72-8572-4348-AA80-29A1B650CA00@microsoft.com...
>> >> > On Windows Vista Home, I often am starting the task manager to see
>> >> > why
>> >> > the
>> >> > system is slow. But every single time I start Task Manager, the
>> >> > Show
>> >> > processes from all users is a button instead of a checkbox and I
>> >> > have
>> >> > to
>> >> > press the button and go through UAC to be able to see all the
>> >> > processes.
>> >> > How
>> >> > do I get Task Manager to remember that I ALWAYS want to see all the
>> >> > processes
>> >> > from all the users?
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>>