FEATURED ARTICLE:
- MSN Toolbar Suite
Back in July, Microsoft purchased a company
called Lookout. The company made a popular tool that allowed
users of Outlook 2000 or above to search through their email
at greater speed and accuracy to the standard Outlook search
tool. Since Microsoft acquired Lookout, the MSN team have
been steadily working on Desktop Search and web search technologies.
Google announced their own Desktop Search technology recently.
The tool is fast but is limited in capabilities.
When you first install the MSN Toolbar Suite, the installation
wizard configures MSN Toolbar in Outlook, Internet Explorer,
Windows Explorer and then the MSN Deskbar. MSN's new Toolbar
integrates directly throughout the OS and varies according
to where you're searching from. For example, if you're searching
from within Windows Explorer you will search on your PC, in
IE on the web and in Outlook the toolbar searches within Outlook.
You have the option to search on the web/desktop throughout
any of the searches. Once the installation wizard has completed
you're greeted with the MSN Deskbar. The MSN Deskbar resides
along the Taskbar much like minimising Windows Media Player.
Clicking on the Deskbar brings up an interface for searching
and simply inputting characters into the text box immediately
starts the Desktop Search. If the Desktop Search hasn't had
enough time to index your files it will alert you and you
can change the settings of what and where it is searching.
Perhaps the most important thing in the Toolbar Suite package
is the installation of the separate MSN Desktop Search. The
results gained from simply searching for files are amazing.
Searching is speedy and you can even search for the author
of certain files. The same technology is applied to the Outlook
search. The MSN Toolbar integrates directly into Outlook allowing
you to replace the standard search tool. Search results for
Outlook are impressive too. Clicking directly on an email
that you've searched for launches the email within seconds.
An impressive search when compared to the long wait of searching
before.
If you're not a fan of the MSN Toolbar then you won't appreciate
the way it integrates into Windows Explorer after Desktop
Searches. This is something I hope MSN will change in future
builds, but hey Google desktop does not even work on my XP
machine due to conflict with antivirus Nod32 ...
The MSN Toolbar Suite including MSN Desktop Search is due
to launch in December. http://toolbar.msn.com/
Info courtesy of Neowin
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