Microsoft's super-fast data search program

Windows Desktop Search (WDS) is Microsoft's new generation data search tool, capable of detecting more than 200 different file formats at a tremendous speed, while still relying on a pretty active mechanism. The familiar is to create an index for search data. Compared to Windows' built-in utility, WDS has created a strong breakthrough in Microsoft's search technology, something that many people have long expected. Download WDS for free (4.25 MB capacity) at the following address:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/9/4/9949edef-5b78-48a3-ade7-5ce77470d8fb/WindowsDesktopSearch-kb911993-x86-ENU.exe

Minimum system configuration to install WDS: Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 SP1 operating system, CPU speed of 500 MHz (recommended 1 GHz), 128 MB RAM (recommended 256 MB), 500 MB of free space for the drive contains indexing data, the recommended screen resolution is 1024 x 768.

Configure WDS with wizards

Completing the installation process and starting the program for the first time, the configuration parameters window for WDS will appear.

If you agree to use the default settings already set, check the Use the default settings and close this wizard to close this wizard window all the time; otherwise click Next.

In the next window, Microsoft asks if you want to contribute to its software development plan by providing the experience gained during use. Depending on your preferences, check " Yes, I would like to participate in the program " or " No, I don't want to participate in the program ", and then click Next.

In the next window, you need to select the locations in the hard disk that you want to be indexed by WDS, corresponding to the places that will be supported by WDS's fast search technology. There are three different options: E-mail and all hard disks (e-mail and all drives), E-mail and My Documents (e-mail and My Documents folder) and Custom folders and e-mail locations (allows you to choose the places you want). If you check the Custom folders and e-mail locations section, click the Browse button. In the dialog box that appears, browse on the directory tree and mark the locations where you want to create the search index, and then click OK. The remaining three options in this window are Automatically start Windows Desktop Search beta when I sign in to my computer (always let WDS start with Windows), Index e-mail attachments (create search index for attachments) in the mail) and Index new items while on battery power (create a search index even when the laptop is charging), you can keep it as default and click the Next button.

In the last window that appears, you'll see two options are See a list of available add-ins (see the list of add-ons for WDS) and Display the Windows Search Deskbar (set your search toolbar WDS on Taskbar). You should keep the default checkmark in these two options, then click the Finish button.

Soon, on the Taskbar will appear the Windows Search Deskbar of WDS, at the same time a web page will open itself and link to the address http://addins.msn.com. Here, you can download lots of add-ins designed for WDS.

Create a search index

Next, right-click on the WDS magnifying glass icon on the watch tray and select the Index Now command to execute the search index creation at the selected locations above. This process is fast or slow depending on the number of folders and files available at those locations. To view the status of the search index creation, click on the Indexing Status command. Two things to note:

- During the time WDS creates a search index, if you use another third program, the index creation process may be paused and you need to reactivate.

- Creating a search index for objects in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express is only valid when both programs are running.

Use

In the meantime, you can test how fast WDS search is, by right-clicking the WDS magnifying glass icon on the watch tray and selecting the Search Now command line (or clicking Go to the blue button to the right of Windows Search Deskbar) to open the interactive interface of WDS. Next, enter a keyword related to the file / folder you want to find (in the range that WDS has created the index) in the search box, then press Enter. Immediately, the list of files / folders related to the desired keyword will appear before your eyes.

The interactive interface of WDS is very intuitive. On the toolbar are buttons that allow you to limit the range of individual file formats you want to detect, including: Documents (search only for text file formats), E-mail (find messages only electronic), Others (different options for file formats to look for: contact list, attachment, image file, music, video .) and Everything (find all formats file supported by WDS). The right side window is used to preview the contents of a recently found file.

Reconfigure WDS

Later, when you want to reconfigure WDS working parameters, right-click the magnifying glass icon on the clock tray and select the Desktop Search Options command line. In the window that appears, in Indexing> Choose what you want to index , select the locations in the hard disk that you want to create a search index, and then click on the Rebuild Index button. At the Advanced> Index location branch, click the Change button to reselect a new directory containing indexing data (the default is C: Documents and SettingsUsernameLocal SettingsApplication DataMicrosoft ). In the Deskbar> Deskbar Search Options branch, set the default search type for the Windows Search Deskbar with two options: Desktop (the normal search type in the interactive interface of WDS) or the Web (search in the form of information). listed in a website). If you want to let Windows Search Deskbar disappear from the Taskbar, click the Hide Deskbar button. Once all parameters have been set, click OK to make the change take effect.

Pham Hong Quan