How can I change the priority of a Windows service process?

Question

I would like to run the Windows Desktop Search indexer at below normal priority. When I try to set this via task manager, I get 'Access is denied'.

Is there a way to remove whatever restrictions are protecting this process? Or ideally, configure it to have the lower priority on startup?

XPSP3 btw.

Solution 1

Apparently it already has low priority, but chews up resources anyway.

From http://kadaitcha.cx/performance.html:

On a new system, the indexing service can take days to settle down. This is because the service puts a low priority on its work. Despite this low priority, the indexing service can cause serious performance degradation, especially in lower-end machines because the computer's hard disk runs continuously

Solution 2

If you are logged in as Administrator, give Process Explorer a go. I've changed priority of processes before that Task Manager was unable to change.

If you don't really need it you can turn it off altogether (Go to the properties of your C:\ drive, and uncheck "Allow indexing service to index this drive for fast file searching" then hit apply). Everything from void tools is much faster for finding files.