Restrict Windows 8.1 'Everywhere' Search

Windows 8.1 (and Windows 8 before it) has a nifty feature: press Ctrl + Q to launch an 'everywhere' search. This makes it really easy to find files, open programs, and access system options. By default, the 'everywhere' search includes a few locations, including your entire user folder. This means that you will be searching through all music, videos, and documents on your computer.

That's usually a good thing. However, it can be very slow depending on the number of files. So you may want to turn this off for some directories.

1. Find 'Indexing Options'. It's in the Control Panel, but it also shows-up in the Ctrl + Q 'everything' search.
2. Click on 'Users' in 'Summary of selected locations'
3. Locate and deselect whatever folders you don't want to look through

May 24, 2014 Update: Tweaked article contents. Added search description. Mention performance problems w/ searching through too many files.