Add Microsoft to the growing desktop search ranks, the software giant launching a beta version of its MSN Toolbar Suite December 13.
MSN Toolbar Suite will let users launch local file or Web searches with a few clicks, but the company suggests waiting for "some of the rough edges" to be fixed and smoothed out before loading them.
The beta version features four programs laying toolbars across the top of Internet Explorer, Outlook, and Windows Explorer screens and in the taskbar on the bottom of the Windows desktop program.
The IE toolbar hunts the local drive as well as Web page information; the Outlook toolbar hunts email and attachments as well as contact and appointment lists; the Windows Explorer toolbar puts Web searching over all folder windows and saves searches in a Folders pane on the left of the user’s view, Microsoft said.
But MSN Deskbar is expected to make the biggest impact, according to analysts, since it gives users local file search plus one-click access to MSN Messenger, Hotmail, and other popular Microsoft programs.
Once the toolbars are installed, the MSN Toolbar Suite will begin indexing local files automatically, indexing email and My Documents files by default, but users can set the toolbars to index all local hard drives or specific drives and folders of their choice, the company added.
The IE toolbar also includes a feature that sets the program to re-index files every 15 minutes automatically if the system is idle otherwise. The only thing missing, according to a few early analyses of the new suite, is a function for users to schedule indexing for only specific times, to keep it from obstructing the user’s normal computer routine.
