thanks for the reply.
hadn't tried that. Had a look at Manage and couldn't see those settings.
and besides, why should I? This is a new out of the box Surface Pro and I probably want "search and indexing"?
only hangs occasionally.
sometimes when I want to upload a photo to a website/forum and I get the "browse" your files it will hang too (just like the File Explorer) tho it doesn't say working on it.
wondering if it to do with having a dock? new model dock with a few attachments - large monitor, dvd writer, back up external drive. Tho I do have the problem both docked and undocked.
Ideally searching and indexing should be disabled on any device that is using an SSD as it causes unnecessary read and write cycles therefore reducing the life cycle of the ssd. On higher end SSDs like the Samsung evo 850 etc that is not necessary however the optimisation wizard shipped by samsung does disable it. On cheaper ssds that is the first you should do.
Which version of Windows / build of windows is it running?
You can check using the run command WinVer .
To be honest, if it's brand new then I would suggest getting a replacement from the Microsoft store if you are in the US as that would be the easiest solution or taking it back to the retailler for them to look at / repair.
As the behaviour you're describing resembles the same symptons a former colleague was experiencing with one of the PCs in the office hence not normal. They had cheaped out on the ssd and so a few days later it gave up and stopped working completely.