Introducing MSN Toolbar Suite - Silicon Valley team (and demo!)

Nice job! I've installed it, works great at first sight.

Impressive! Great job by the MSN Search team.

I just have one problem - Outlook 2003 is set as the default mail client (within Outlook's options and IE's settings), but I can't seem to select it for indexing. The option is greyed out, and it says I need to set Outlook as the default mail application. I can select Outlook Express though. Outlook is already running and has the MSN toolbar at the top, by the way.

Any ideas?

I personally love the Deskbar Search, which by default appears on Taskbar, I don't like that. What I do is drag it to the side of my screen and turn it into a Side Bar, the search features in it are very cool, check it out here:

MSN Deskbar Search as Sidebar

Another thing you have to remember to do too, is Index everything first before you attempt to search.

OK, I first noticed the toolbar/desktop search had been released on the news section on a magazine web site.

I then come here out of intrest while downloading the toolbar, it has just finished downloading and it requires admin rights to install, it didn't even prompt me for the admin user name and passwords as other apps/utils have done.

I hope this is to be fixed in either the release code or the next beta.....

We should all be running with least privilege mode, right?

NetRyder wrote:

Impressive! Great job by the MSN Search team.

I just have one problem - Outlook 2003 is set as the default mail client (within Outlook's options and IE's settings), but I can't seem to select it for indexing. The option is greyed out, and it says I need to set Outlook as the default mail application. I can select Outlook Express though. Outlook is already running and has the MSN toolbar at the top, by the way.

Any ideas?

Fixed. Posted the problem on the MSN Search blog and got a response.
For anyone else who had the same problem, look for Bubba's comment here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/archive/2004/12/13/282000.aspx#FeedBack

The Channel 9 Team wrote:

"Wicked," is how interviewer Robert Scoble reacted when he saw the MSN Toolbar Suite demoed. Today Microsoft announced the MSN Toolbar Suite beta. You can get it now at http://beta.toolbar.msn.com/" target="_blank">http://beta.toolbar.msn.com.

What is the reg hack the geek typed in to clear the jelly beans?

I personally think, indexing visiting web pages is helpful; especially to folk like me, students. We browse the net, read new stuff around and then somewhere down the road we come across with something and we know that I saw something related on some webpage that I visited, but not remembering its URL; now using Google Desktop Search, it’s easy.

 

I wish MSN guys add it too, and also, just like what they have done that searching something on Google.com also shows the results of desktop (including visited pages). Adding these two I will definitely uninstall Google toolbar and desktop search J

 

Using indexing service as backend is nice, one can create custom filters for new formats, its super cool; to have some nice UI for indexing service.

Hmmm, trying to install it using firefox, and I get the standard "Your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements" error.

At least googles' tool could care less about the browser I'm using.

tmaffin wrote:

What is the reg hack the geek typed in to clear the jelly beans?

It took me a bit of playing around but here's how to do it.  Find this folder in your registry:

   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MSN Apps\DB

Next, add a DWORD value with the name of "Buttons" and change the value of "Buttons" to "1".  On your toolbar, uncheck the MSN Deskbar to clear it from your toolbar then re-check it to add it again without the buttons.

Took 2hrs to index, but I love it. Nice job guys

How does this compare to Copernic Desktop Search?
Does it index music (file names and ID3 ifo)?
Does it index images?
Does it index videos?
Does it index Firefox Internet cache and history? 
IE Internet cache and history?  
Can you configure the file types to index (locations or full text)? 
Does index content of Word docs and PDF?
Does it have a preview window for full-text searches?
Does it highlight search terms in the preview window?

Shannon wrote:

How does this compare to Copernic Desktop Search?
Does it index music (file names and ID3 ifo)? Yes
Does it index images? Names and file property info.
Does it index videos? Names and file property info.
Does it index Firefox Internet cache and history? No internet cache is indexed.
IE Internet cache and history? Again, no.
Can you configure the file types to index (locations or full text)? Locations, yes, specific files, no.
Does index content of Word docs and PDF? I believe they said it indexed files that it understood how to read (pretty sure office documents are included in that)
Does it have a preview window for full-text searches?
Does it highlight search terms in the preview window?

I don't meant to sound rude but most of these questions were answered in the video.  I've answered the ones I remember above.  I would have answered more of these questions but I'm having a bit of trouble getting the index to work on my machine.

Hey, I have my own list of questions: http://zmarties.blogspot.com/2004/12/desktop-search-reviewers-guide.html and http://radio.weblogs.com/0001011/2004/12/12.html#a8876



But, yes, it indexes music.
Yes, it does images.
Yes, it does videos.
No, it does not go into your cache, either Firefox or IE (as far as I understand).
You can build iFilters for other datatypes if you're a developer. Not sure what you're asking there.
Yes, it indexes content of Word docs and PDFs.
It has a preview window.
Yes, it previews.
Yes, it highlights.

What is the Reg hack that he did to remove the buttons? He did it too fast to catch what he was doing. Thanks for any information

I'm trying to get them to give the reg hack to us.

scobleizer wrote:

You can build iFilters for other datatypes if you're a developer. Not sure what you're asking there.

Copernic Desktop Search allows you to specify what file types you want indexed as text so I have a full text index of all the source code on my machine (all html, C#, vb, asp, css, js, etc, etc, etc).   It also allows you to indicate what file types you want indexed by name and properties only (like .zip, .dll, .exe, etc, that I want to know the location of.)

Looks like MS has a real product here (unlike Google's Desktop Search), I just don't have the 52 minutes to watch the video or couple hours to install and index, so I won't be able to really test it until at least tomorrow.

scobleizer wrote:

I'm trying to get them to give the reg hack to us.

That would be great, Thank you



[Update] I tried what he does in the video...I added a DWORD called "Buttons" with a value of 0 and it didn't work. Hmm... [/Update]

XxDesmus_MODxX wrote:

I tried what he does in the video...I added a DWORD called "Buttons" with a value of 0 and it didn't work. Hmm...

Desmus, scroll up, I've already answered this question.

I have been using it all day.  This is great, best damn desktop search tool I have seen yet.  Im glad the Win 2000 guys get it too.  Forget WinFS just include this tool with Longhorn.  Im glad it doesnt index cached sites, we dont need that and it makes it more secure and Im  just curious as to whether this will index other users documents.  Im not a fan of web based Apps but Microsoft did this alot better than Google did and its faster.

great job!
congratulations to the msn toolbar team!

regards.

Anthony Alvarado
http://www.mentores.net

Kryptos,

As with most software these days you must have the proper permissions to install software. Imagine a corporation with thousands of PC's and users installing anything they want. Not a good situation.

As for running with least priviledge mode, I think you are referring to the advice to develop applications with least priviledge mode in mind and in-so-doing developing under a least privelege account. That says nothing about creating an app that installs under least privilege mode. That would be a friggin nightmare.

From what I can see, this software meets that goal. I've installed my fiance with the software (using my Admin account) and she has been using it just fine.

Don,

It's a tradeoff for sure. The key thing to know is that it integrates with the Windows shell, so there is some adavanced functionality that you simply won't find with Google's. I'm a Firefox user myself, but the truly useful part of the software, as far as I'm concerned, is the desktop search which appears on your Start bar. As far as the MSN Toolbar, probably not something I'll use on a regular basis.

When you do a desktop search, you'll get immediate results in a Windows UI. You can go with that, but if you click "More" or tap Enter, you'll get an IE window with an Active X listview of your search results. Very nice by the way.

I have my complaints about the IE-specific nature of MSN Spaces, but this one, not so much. Have a look at my posts...

Initial Impressions of MSN Spaces

and

MSN Desktop Search

Congrats (to us all) with the new tool!

Downloaded it yesterday and installed on my home pc. Some issues relating to regional and language, and some language packs needed to be installed. Luckily, this was included in the pack.
Also some troubles after the installation has finished and the toolbars were  instantiated - nothing seemed to happen and I ended up with a blue screen. No, not the BSOD! Restarted the machine and everything was okay and available.

I have used both the Lookout Search for Outlook tool and Google's Desktop Search for quite a while. Here are some initial findings after fiddling with the MSN Toolbar Suite (MSNTS) for half an hour this morning.

I searched for the expression "strategy" in all the applications.
Lookout found 777 items in 2,39 seconds, and Google found 283 items in 0,95 seconds.

Using Outlook 2003, I searched Outlook in MSNTS. Found 206 items. No information on seeking time, but speed seems okay. Time indication should be added. It is not that I really need it but it would be an okay feature. What's more anoying to me is that the search result is opened in a new window. I would like to see the results hosted in Outlook. There should be an option to select this feature in the program. The result of a search in Explorer is presented within Explorer, and not in a new window.

Still in Outlook, I select to search the desktop. Finds 321 items.
The options in the header of the results page are a bit confusing. Selecting "Show: Email" indicates that there are 188 items. Selecting the Outlook option (above the search field) indicates that there are 206 items. How come there is a difference? I think the items found on the topmost row ("Web, News, Images ...") should be removed and placed as options in the more category.

The toolbar in Outlook should also indicate more clearly where it is searching. You don't see which option is selected if you choose the Search button. In Explorer and IE it says "Search Desktop" or "Search Web"

I think there should be an option to allow the reuse of the search expressions across the applications.

Final thoughts. Good first impression of the beta. Think I'll stick with it and deinstall Lookout and Google, and hopefully save some disk space occupied by the different indexes, and save some processing time...

Thank you guys!

Hi!

I think this is the best update for the Windows Desktop since Windows 95 ;O)) No i'm joking!

BUT, I REALLY LIKE THIS FEATURE!!!

It's like X-Mas, Eastern and Birthday together!

Great work!

Greetings,
Stefan (Austria)

Great job and it is about tmie. What upsets me is the fact that MS is never going to do anything unless they have to compete with some other company. Last time is was about WEb Broweser and this time around it is about search! The war has began. who is going to win?


my two cents, Maxim

[www.ipattern.com do you?]

no windows 2003 support

soe wished the msn search deskbar would show query times.  If you turn on the status bar (View|Status Bar) on the Desktop Search Results page, you can see the query execution time there.

I am also disappointed that Windows Server 2003 is not supported.  I even tried to install the application in emulation mode for 2000 and XP.  No dice.

Will Server 2003 be supported?  Soon?  Please?

I noticed a very nice Windows Xp theme on the demo computer. Where can I find this theme?

Junior882,

I understand everything which you have said and I agree with it.

I logged out and installed with admin rights then logged back in using standard user rights on my network.

And the toolbar has worked just fine.

I have installed other apps and they prompted for login information, which doesn't require you to log out and log back in.

I guess I wanted this to happen and it didn't, also I'm confused why this doesn't happen with all installs.

Also I think your right I didn't use least privilege with in the correct context.

I hope that makes my point clearer....

Don,

It's a tradeoff for sure. The key thing to know is that it integrates with the Windows shell, so there is some adavanced functionality that you simply won't find with Google's. I'm a Firefox user myself, but the truly useful part of the software, as far as I'm concerned, is the desktop search which appears on your Start bar. As far as the MSN Toolbar, probably not something I'll use on a regular basis.

When you do a desktop search, you'll get immediate results in a Windows UI. You can go with that, but if you click "More" or tap Enter, you'll get an IE window with an Active X listview of your search results. Very nice by the way.

I have my complaints about the IE-specific nature of MSN Spaces, but this one, not so much. Have a look at my posts...

Fair enough. I'll give it a closer look.

My initial reaction to the error message was more a knee-jerk reaction that MS was once again bashing the competition, as opposed to the more correct error message that should have just stated the IE was a required component.

Thought I'd post my feedback here.


- love the shortcut feature and being able to search my c# code.

- Saw some wacky results. e.g. when searching for "44", the number one Outlook hit was a "Christmas Day" all day event for 2002.

- the default Ctrl+Alt+M keystroke wasn't working for me, maybe clashing with something else(?). Had to change it to something else to get it to work.

- After switching to sans-buttons mode the pop-up search list disapeared as well. Couldn't figure out how to bring it up. I'd like to be able to have my pop-up list and drop the cheesy buttons.

great job guys - this is a great addition to Windows. 

I just have one issue with it and that is the memory footprint when I first log in to Windows.  MSIIndex.exe takes up about 50MB of memory for a good 5 minutes or so before settling down to around 5MB.'

Is this normal?  And has anybody else found this?

I wonder why people want Windows 2003 Server to be supported? After all it is a Server product, and this is MSN Desktop Search. Users this is really targetted at won't run Windows 2003 as a client desktop system.

The thing with this is that it will be the only desktop search tool that will only search Microsoft formats (without installing anything extra) - I can see Google and Yahoo searching other formats and clients (Firefox, Thunderbird), but not MSN. It may be possible to index Thunderbird/Firefox, but that is unlikely to happen (toolbar integrated into IE only, and those developers into these tools are generally not always Microsoft friendly).

Beagle could turn out to be very good. Supports OpenOffice, Ogg Vorbis as well as Microsoft formats. Plus it may eventually work on multiple platforms (as it is written in Mono/C#/Gtk# - that may impact indexing speed though). Now that would be a good desktop search tool - work across many platforms, and not be limited to a particular vendors formats.

i'd also request win 2003 server support for msn desktop search. win2003 server  is a fine client desktop os if you get to use it for free by your uni.  i always think by myself that there's got to be a way to install it on win 2003 .. those mcse's would fingure that out in a minute... right? +g+

Kryptos,

Here's a quick tip. You don't need to log out and then in as the Admin to run the installer. You should be able to Shift-right click (or is it Ctrl right click) the installer file and then choose the Runas option which will allow you to provide your Admin credentials.

sbc said:

The thing with this is that it will be the only desktop search tool that will only search Microsoft formats (without installing anything extra) - I can see Google and Yahoo searching other formats and clients (Firefox, Thunderbird), but not MSN. It may be possible to index Thunderbird/Firefox, but that is unlikely to happen (toolbar integrated into IE only, and those developers into these tools are generally not always Microsoft friendly).

I agree with this. So if in IE features like drag and drop along with windows integration can be achieved, does not mean that over browsers should be abandoned, at least minimum support is needed as it was done in Google Search. I personally use Firefox, Opera and IE and I like them all!

So my feedback is
1) Support for all major browsers. In Firefox maybe, it is even possible to make a downloadable extension to add the IE's desktop search user experience.

2) I hate MSN toolbar. So give me the option to disable it for good or uninstall completely!
3) Please also make separate downloads for Toolbar, Deskbar, Outlook toolbar!

4) Please add a close button near the minimize button in the “Search as I type” mode.

5) I am not sure if it is possible, but lets say double click on the taskbar Icon brings up the IE, but single left mouse click brings out the Deskbar, to type the search quaery in, lets say on top of taskbar. This will definitely be useful and it want consume the so needed space!

6) I want to bookmark desktop search. What is the URL, maybe enable this feature in options menu? Google for instance shows the URL.

Bugs
Then I disable MSN toolbar and go to beta.search.msn.com and use Desktop search or normally start IE and then go to beta.search.msn.com and use Desktop search.

It says that I have to install it to use this feature, the problem is it is Installed. Google in over hand, somehow finds out in any browser about the presence of its desktop search tool and displays the 'Desktop' link, over wise it is hidden. MSN displays this link always!

WOW this is realy awsome. Great Job! Indexing takes a long time, specially if you index all your hard drive(s), and it doesn't work quiet well on non-english Windows version. But despite that it still rocks! 

Hi,
I'm installing it right now so I don't have any comments now, but the demo looks really nice

But I have one question: Is it possible to replace "Ctrl+Alt+M" keyboard shortcut with shortcut with "Win" button?
I'd like to replace standard windows "Win+F" function with this, but I'm not able to enter Win key in options

Anyway, good job
I especially like this "$w" feature!

Tomas

Tomas Petricek wrote:

Hi,
I'm installing it right now so I don't have any comments now, but the demo looks really nice

But I have one question: Is it possible to replace "Ctrl+Alt+M" keyboard shortcut with shortcut with "Win" button?
I'd like to replace standard windows "Win+F" function with this, but I'm not able to enter Win key in options

Anyway, good job
I especially like this "$w" feature!

Tomas

Tomas use Shift+ whatever letter you want.

Now I have a question, does it index programs (*.exe) without shortcuts?

Great job, so far!

Thanks,
Paulo

mwirth wrote:

i'd also request win 2003 server support for msn desktop search. win2003 server  is a fine client desktop os if you get to use it for free by your uni.  i always think by myself that there's got to be a way to install it on win 2003 .. those mcse's would fingure that out in a minute... right? +g+

Server 2003 install: 
/c /t: for unpacking
+
msiexec /i MsnToolbarSuite.msi TBSDEVCODE=1

So where does this leave the Windows search feature available from the Start menu? Would it be better to update that one instead of fragmenting the search feature by introducing another tool?

LOVE the new Deskbar and have only 1 querey.When I do a search the IE browser opens instead of my MSN Premium 8 browser. Any suggestions?
 Thanks in advance for a response. 

glebd wrote:

So where does this leave the Windows search feature available from the Start menu? Would it be better to update that one instead of fragmenting the search feature by introducing another tool?

MSN products don't typically replace existing Windows functionality.  For example,  Windows Messenger is left alone when you install MSN Messenger.  Also, the MSN Toolbar has a pop-up blocker, and if you attempt to use it with XP SP2, it will force you to choose one blocker or the other.

This is one aspect of Microsoft I really don't understand.  It really seems like MSN is off in their own little world, writing what could be considered third-party software for Windows.  Seems like a wasteful duplication of effort to me...

Maybe Microsoft will make a "Windows MSN 2005"

warren wrote:

MSN products don't typically replace existing Windows functionality.  For example,  Windows Messenger is left alone when you install MSN Messenger.  Also, the MSN Toolbar has a pop-up blocker, and if you attempt to use it with XP SP2, it will force you to choose one blocker or the other.

This is one aspect of Microsoft I really don't understand.  It really seems like MSN is off in their own little world, writing what could be considered third-party software for Windows.  Seems like a wasteful duplication of effort to me...

Very much agree...a bit confusing to all.

This judgmental filosophy are plain wrong.

Desktop Search is just a prelude for future search technology.
Some of the code base actually goes back to the Kairo days, and they have now combined it in this package.  
Its a company strategy to get this stuff out, show customers that Microsoft are investing in search for the desktop, and that Windows are and will be, the most productive os for home users and corporate enviroments. 

There is a huge amount of stuff that just wait in the horizon, and MSN desktop sarch is a base building block in this effort.

To have the Destop search index all files (including .exe and .dll files) change the value of  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RSSearch\Gather\RSApp\MyIndex\Protocols\File\0\ExtExclusionsUsed to 0

If you want to take a look at other interesting settings, including file paths of database files, check HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RSSearch

Have fun

sbc wrote:

I wonder why people want Windows 2003 Server to be supported? After all it is a Server product, and this is MSN Desktop Search. Users this is really targetted at won't run Windows 2003 as a client desktop system.

Because for many of us who do development work, Windows Server 2003 IS our desktop environment.  First thought should be how to include everyone, not how to justify leaving people out.  I'm sure the team is working on this, just answering your question.

The video was helpful but here's a few questions I either missed or was not covered in the video.
 
All I heard was Outlook, will it index Outlook Express?

What about other mail programs such as Thunderbird and Eudora?

I write Web pages and have lots of browsers installed. Will it install and run without conflicts with other browsers installed?

hi

i installed it but it can not search my desktop,it tells me that I have no items on my desktop even though I do.I use xp as OS.

I'm supporting the need for Windows Server 2003 support. I'm purchasing Windows Server R2 when it's released. And I'm gonna be using it as a home server.
I won't be booting up in Windows XP or purchasing Virtual Pc just so I can use Msn's search indexer.
But at the same time i really want it.

Very nice! They use Winamp for their music. At least some Microsoft employees seem to realize the difficulties with Windows Media Player and prefer Winamp. The thing is if they know internally at Microsoft the issues with WMP why don't they make it better than the rest?                     

Yeah, I noticed that.  I prefer MusicMatch, but Winamp definitely is fast and simple which WMP is NOT.

In any case, just wanted to mention thanks for displaying the hacks to eliminate buttons in search.  If you're a minimalist like I am, you'll be pleased to know that with only a system tray icon, you get full functionality of the MSN Deskbar Search.  Basically, just right-click on the MSN icon and click "Hide Deskbar".  Notice that you can still run Ctrl+Alt+M or whatever your customized shortcut is.  I happen to use it concurrently with the Google Taskbar so as to minimize space.

For all of you Googlers, just set up a shortcut and you can use Google search (copy and paste this line):

@goog,http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=$w&btnG=Google+Search

 Then when you run it, just type:
goog <search terms>

I did this for Amazon, etc. - they explained generally how to do this in the video. 

One other thing...there is a wildcard capability.  For example, I ran a search which returned all C# class files containing "string":
string *.cs

Awesome!  Plus the sorting and right-click for emails to narrow down search are really cool!

Edit: Actually, it only does similar searches (by name, etc.)
However, you can do something like this as a search query:
date:12/9/2004 from:"Daniel Lipsy" Microsoft
If this is within Email (or Outlook), it will searches for all emails containing Microsoft that are from me and dated 12/9/04.  Wow - lightning fast as well!

First of all, I'd like to join the group of people developing on Windows Server 2003 who would like to have the MSN toolbar at hand. After all, IE runs, Outlook runs, the Indexing Service runs fine on 2K3, so what's the point of not having the MSN toolbar on it?
Second, congratulations, but what took you so long? The Indexing Service has been in there for ages (or so) and yet it's one of the most "underground & unknown" features Windows has. Go put it to work! (in a better way than the Explorer file search does)
And, third, does this have anything to do with Lookout?

I summed up the tips in this video on my msn space:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/johannesh/

yeep wrote:

To have the Destop search index all files (including .exe and .dll files) change the value of  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RSSearch\Gather\RSApp\MyIndex\Protocols\File\0\ExtExclusionsUsed to 0

If you want to take a look at other interesting settings, including file paths of database files, check HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RSSearch

Have fun

BIIIIIG mistake.  I now have 161,362 files indexed (EXE, DLL, etc. etc.) and all searches now take between 30 and 90 seconds...totally unacceptable.  Any ideas of how to *include* certain extensions when crawling - CPP/H/CS are useful, DLL/EXE/COM are not for me

So...I'm uninstalling and reinstalling because the "rebuild index" basically just hangs the screen indefinitely and doesn't tell status.

By the way, you can add to or remove from this list of *excluded* extensions here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RSSearch\Gather\RSApp\MyIndex\Extensions\ExtensionList

So, in conclusion, this search (as well as the other ones out there) will rarely if ever search your entire computer and index all 150K+ files (including context info...inside various files where it makes no sense )  So, just as long as you know it only crawls *useful* files whereas a search for a specific file (myvirus.exe), etc. is to be done in regular Windows search. 

When is search within PDFs going to be added? 

dantheman82 wrote:

When is search within PDFs going to be added? 

It's already there. You just need to download and install the Adobe IFilter.
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/all/ifilter50.exe

Actually, we don't have any media players hardcoded in the product whatsoever.  When you play a music file we use the shell to open it which means we end up opening your media player of choice.  When you choose several music files and click open we actually just create an m3u file on the fly and open that using the shell as well.

David Dawson [MSN]

We do index Outlook Express.  Unfortunately we do not do other email apps at this time such as Thunderbird & Eudora, in part due to time constraints and in part because we must have a way to do operations on email items from our results view including but not limited to open.  I haven't yet found a way to tell Eudora for example to open a specific email programmatically.

The product extends the Windows shell to show search results but for web browsing we will browse to web pages usign your web browser of choice.

David Dawson [MSN]

I have one problem that kind of bugs me.  I have already had around 150,000 files indexed, and I've uninstalled and installed a couple of fairly sizable apps.  The deskbar is incessantly trying to index and frankly I don't care and really want it to back off a little - besides snoozing it, is there any way to change the indexing frequency (registry or other)?

Also, I'd be interested in creating my own custom ifilter (like the Adobe PDF ifilter) that I could use.  Is there any information from Microsoft/MSN where I could create this and have my own plugin?

Thanks,
Dan

dantheman82 wrote:

Also, I'd be interested in creating my own custom ifilter (like the Adobe PDF ifilter) that I could use.  Is there any information from Microsoft/MSN where I could create this and have my own plugin?

Here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/odc_SP2003_ta/html/ODC_HowToWriteaFilter.asp

NetRyder wrote:

dantheman82 wrote: When is search within PDFs going to be added?

It's already there. You just need to download and install the Adobe IFilter.
http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/all/ifilter50.exe

Does MSN Toolbar/the Windows Indexing Service have a "Plugin Center", showing the user what filters are currently installed and where to get more plugins from?

What bugs me about it, is that is opens the webpage shortcuts in an exsisting window.

Can you make it open in a new window?

dnrfan wrote:

What bugs me about it, is that is opens the webpage shortcuts in an exsisting window.

Can you make it open in a new window?

I think you'll have to make the configuration change in your default browser. If you use IE, you need to go to Internet Options -> Advanced -> Browsing -> Reuse windows for launching shortcuts and make sure it's disabled. If you use Firefox, go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Tabbed Browsing and select something different from "the most recent tab/windows" (that is, "a new window" or "a new tab in the most recent window").

My complaint is on a different chord: The indexing engine seems to use quite a lot of memory. Is there a way to limit it to a percentage of the free memory? On my machine, the process that has the icon in systray goes to 64 MB pretty quickly. On a machine with 256 MB of RAM, that stinks.

Oh you ROCK !!!

Thanks heaps.

The ability for it to search on letters as you type them in is good.

I last saw it used in Swyft, which ran on the Apple II, and later on the Canon Cat;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/story/0,12449,1337077,00.html

http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/swyft/index.html

The idea was that it should be an information appliance, And in these days of 512MB Flash cards, this simple data retreavle tool could easly be re-born.

Unfortunatly the MSN Toolbar Suite does NOT work with MSN 8

Any fixes

hey. im having this problem with the latest build of the Desktop Search:

Installed a fresh copy of Windows Xp, with Service Pack 2 Slipstreamed. Installed MSN Toolbar Suite 2.1.1203 (the new version). Indexing completed after about 2 hours (with 50,000+ items indexed). However any search in the deskbar returns 'No items found'. The main Desktop Search window refuses to open, no matter where I open it from, whether its the taskbar icon, the deskbar, the start menu, or any of the toolbars.

Tried uninstalling, and reinstalling the Desktop Search 4 times, with restarts in between, yet still no luck. This is the latest bug I've found, and it's one that has completely crippled the tool for me. Anyone expereinced this?

Hi there,

the new Deskbar is real cool, fast, etc..

But two things i think are real BETA:

1) I cant resize the search output window from the deskbar, this should be changed until final the default size is ok, but sometimes the results are more than hundreds or emails with long subjects..

2) I think i dont have understand until now which documents are displayed in the category "all other items". They are emails as well as files etc.. why?? if i click on more, they are the same found files like mp3 files or excel sheets, which also displayed under the category "files" and "media files".

I thought "all other items" should only OTHER items  

Thanks for feedback and go on! nice site, Nice videos, nice toolbar

Mike