Windows 11's search is getting less of a RAM hog. Microsoft is tweaking the File Explorer in a new test build to stop it from indexing the same files twice, which should speed up finding stuff and use less system memory. This update is rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta channels right now under a toggle, not to the general public yet.
The fix makes the search skip scanning duplicate file paths, relying on a single index instead. Microsoft says this change tackles reliability issues and improves how Explorer handles different drive locations. While search is not a huge resource drain normally, cutting out this inefficient double work is meant to make the whole file manager feel snappier, especially if you dig through lots of folders often.
The feature is in a controlled, gradual release for testing. If everything goes smoothly, it will get turned on by default and should ship to everyone on a stable version of Windows 11 later.
The fix makes the search skip scanning duplicate file paths, relying on a single index instead. Microsoft says this change tackles reliability issues and improves how Explorer handles different drive locations. While search is not a huge resource drain normally, cutting out this inefficient double work is meant to make the whole file manager feel snappier, especially if you dig through lots of folders often.
The feature is in a controlled, gradual release for testing. If everything goes smoothly, it will get turned on by default and should ship to everyone on a stable version of Windows 11 later.
