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I've recently rebooted into windows 2k after working w/ debian for 2-3 weeks (dual-boot). When I opend C:\ (root directory) i see about 150 files w/ a name of the following format "STxx.IDX" where xx is a combination of #'s and letters ... (the files go from 01 to UC) ... what the hell is this... does anyone know
Well... an *.idx file is an index file.
They are used by many different applications for various reasons.
(according to googles resources)
I did a quick search of my localdisk (on xp pro) and found that I had them all over the place.
I never paid them much mind before...
I have them in an AOL folder (application hasn't been used for quite a while)
I also have tons of them in my html folders. Actaully... it seems that I have them in only folders that has java or html files in them....
All I can figure is that they are used by other applications to locate files it may need to use....
Anyone else?
If im not mistaken they are for searching. 2k and xp have an indexing service built in that windoze uses to help locate files faster. i dont know exactly how this works. If you goto my computer and right click on your hdd and goto properties it shows down on the bottom"allow indexing service to index this disc for faster file searching. Other than that i dont know much about it besides its only availabe with ntfs
ZomBieMann77:
Thats what I'm thinking... but does it have only to do with the OS? Or other applications can use it? I've seen a lot of reference to web apps... which obviously use the OS too...
I do have indexing enabled.... but I'm not sure that it speeds anything up...
I know linux EX3 also uses a form of indexing... but they call it journaling...
There's a whole bunch of surprisingly informative help about this in WinXP (and also Win 2k I presume).
Just goto 'Computer Management', and select 'Services & Applications', and you'll see 'Indexing services' in the right hand pane. Right click to get help etc.
Basically it has its own query language, and these idx files are also used when you use the 'Search' function in WinXP. The idea is that you index key objects (local files, word/text documents, HTML files etc.), so that you can locate them quickly.
You can enable or disable this, monitor the performance hit of this, and set filters to determine what you wish to index.
I dont think its OS only that can acsess the indexing service. Im not sure though. It probably depends on the program and if it is designed to acsess it. Im fairly sure programs like ms office and stuff can use it too. Im still looking for more info ill come back and edit this when i find it. darkes is right about how to acsess it but im still not sure how it works.
The indexing service can, and is meant to, be accessed by other programs. A number of canned web-site programs (including the one my company uses for their intranet) use the indexing services to perform site searches. The site is built entirely with VBscript asp and uses a SQL server for data storage and retrieval. All of that is indexed with the indexing service as well as documents etc. which are stored on the drive.