Microsoft releases Windows Search 4.0

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Microsoft, Freeware, Search

Microsoft releases Windows Search 4.0

by Brad Linder Jun 4th 2008

A few months after releasing a technical preview of Windows Search 4.0, Microsoft has released the final version of its updated desktop search software.

If you've ever tried using the search feature in Windows XP or earlier Windows operating systems, you know that it can take several long minutes to get your results. Windows Search cuts that time down to seconds by constantly indexing every file on your desktop. If you have a lot of documents and media files on your PC, that index file can eat up a few hundred megabytes or even a few gigabytes, so you'll want to make sure you've got some free hard disk space before installing Windows Search.

Several other Microsoft products including Outlook 2007, OneNote 2007 and Windows Vista use Windows Search technology. But you can also download and install the standalone search client for any Windows XP, Vista, or Server 2003 system.

Windows Search 4.0 includes a number of bug fixes, allows you to index encrypted files, and provides search results faster than previous versions. If you're looking for a different free desktop search application, you might want to check out Google Desktop or Copernic Desktop Search.

[via ActiveWin]

Tags: desktop-search, search, windows-search, windows-search-4.0

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

MDW said 11:34AM on 6-04-2008

What does the memory usage on this little gem look like? - IIRC, the preview version was a bit on the heavy side and I uninstalled it after a few weeks. I like it, and it worked well - it was just a resource hog.

Peter said 1:06PM on 6-04-2008

MDW - Here's $20 go buy another Gig of RAM. :)
But seriously, claims of applications being resource hogs are kind of silly. Unless you're a developer, how do you know how many resources it should need to do the job? If your machine is underpowered then everything seems like a resource hog. I want applications that do the job. I'm not going to choose one app over another simply because one uses less RAM.

MDW said 2:01PM on 6-04-2008

I'm running three gigs - I shouldn't need more. Simply because an app does a job, doesn't mean that it should utilize a disproportionate share of system resources - especially with something like this.

Corpbob said 6:14PM on 6-04-2008

Is this a replacement for the worthless search engine in Vista?

iofthestorm said 7:26AM on 6-05-2008

Worthless? I don't think Vista's search is worthless, but yes, it upgrades and replaces the built-in Vista search. I think it makes it faster at the least, and maybe more thorough but I'm not sure about that. But basically, once it's installed you wouldn't know it's there.

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