Windows Desktop Search is an indexed search platform released by Microsoft for the Windows operating system. Before its official release it was known as MSN Desktop Search, and is sometimes referred to as such because of its inclusion in the MSN Toolbar. Windows Desktop Search (or "WDS") is a competitor to applications such as Yahoo! Desktop Search, Google Desktop and Copernic.

Overview

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Upon installation, Windows Desktop Search builds an index of the files on a user's hard drive. The initial creation of this index can take up to several hours, but this is a one-time event. Once the index is complete, Windows Desktop Search returns search results almost instantaneously. Searches are performed not only on file names, but also on the contents and tags of a file. For example, searching your computer for The Beatles would return a list of the Beatles music on your computer, as well as any e-mails and documents that include the phrase "The Beatles" in their titles or contents.

Desktop search programs are widely seen as a panacea for the slow search capabilities that are built into the Windows XP operating system. Users of Windows XP can download Windows Desktop Search from Microsoft for free; most of the competing desktop search programs are also free. Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system will include built-in indexed search capabilities.

See also

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• Desktop search

External links

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• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/

Microsoft software | Desktop search engines