Microsoft releases Windows Desktop Search 3.00
Feb 24th, 2007 by MrGroove
Way…. Way… back, I just loved to use the application LookOut in order to index my Microsoft Outlook mailbox and .pst files. It was a small company at www.lookoutsoft.com. Microsoft purchased lookoutsoft corp. and then began work on it’s own full desktop search application.
The first time I installed Microsoft Desktop Search I think it was called "MSN Desktop Search". It was a bit confusing because if you wanted to have the same "Lookout" type functionality in Microsoft outlook you had to install the MSN Toolbar (or LIVE toolbar as Microsoft was in the process of re-branding everything to LIVE).
My favorite version of Windows Desktop Search was:
Windows Desktop Search - 02.06.6000.5414 or Windows Desktop Search 2.6.6
You used to be able to get that by right clicking on the small Windows Desktop Search icon HELP -> About Windows Desktop Search
Shot take from Windows XP & Windows Desktop Search - 02.06.6000.5414 
Overall, 2.06.6000.5414 was a great product and I would have been happy if Microsoft would have just left things alone. Some of the features I "loved" were:
- Searchable Index of Microsoft Outlook Mailbox and .pst files
- Searchable Index of local disk drives and Network Shares or UNC paths
For example, here is how you would go about setting up which drives, PST folders and UNC paths you wanted included in your inbox:
Shot take from Windows XP & Windows Desktop Search - 02.06.6000.5414
- Click on Browse
Shot take from Windows XP & Windows Desktop Search - 02.06.6000.5414 
- From here you have VERY granular control of what to index. I LOVE IT!!!
Another great feature I like was inside of outlook. Once I typed in a search and I received back my results, I could Right - Click on an email and select Conversation:
Shot take from Windows XP & Windows Desktop Search - 02.06.6000.5414
This would bring back all emails in that conversation. This is a feature I used ALL THE TIME!
So, everything came to a screeching halt when Microsoft Office 2007 was released. All in all, I really like it however as a corporate user, Outlook is the application I spend 80% of my day using. I figured, ok I’ll go ahead and bite the bullet and upgrade to the new Office.
My company notebook didn’t have the CPU requirements for VISTA so my new configuration is:
- Windows XP sp2
- Office 2007 Enterprise Edition
After the upgrade to Office 2007, the first thing I tried out was the desktop search. I wasn’t very happy….
Unfortunately, Outlook 2007 told me I needed to upgrade to the new Windows Desktop Search 3.0 if I wanted to enjoy the benefits of having all my email and .pst files indexed. The upgrade was simple, Microsoft released the WDS 3.0 RTW at KB917013.
After the install I had to reboot a few times and rebuild my index (they claim you don’t need to rebuild your index but oh well). Again, after the upgrade the first thing I did was go into the Windows Desktop Search Options and sure enough, all the options were gone. You no longer have the ability to configure Windows Desktop Search at a granular level. All the UNC features were gone, all the Microsoft Outlook features were gone (Selecting .PST files etc….). Nice job Microsoft. You call this an UPGRADE?
Here, see for yourself.
Right click on the Windows Desktop Search Icon on the Toolbar. Click Windows Desktop Search Options…
Shot take from Windows XP & Windows Desktop Search - 3.0 RTW 
As you can see, all the granular options are GONE. If you click on MODIFY or ADVANCED, you have a VERY limited set of thing you can configure. Take a look:
MODIFY 
ADVANCED 
Click on File Types tab if you want to configure which extensions you want indexed however this is not exactly a step up.
As you can see, not much you can configure here in the general client. Now looking at the feature inside Outlook 2007:
Once you get into the Options, everything is pretty much the same as 2.6.6 however one IMPORTANT feature is missing, NO CONVERSATION SEARCH OPTION!!!
Shot take from Outlook 2007 running on Windows XP 
Unfortunately for me, this is pretty much a show stopper until this feature is added. If they dropped this feature in Windows Desktop Search 3.0, my guess is they also dropped this from Vista… BUMMER
Comments? Questions? Groovy Baby 
Tags: client, desktop search, download, howto, xp
Go to Control Panel. Select Indexing Options. There’s a *little* more you can configure there.
Am doing a pilot study of the 4.0 product.. here’s my sharepoint discussion webpart on it. i’m just pasting it here
Windows Desktop Search 4.0 INSTALLING / SETUP
Note: When first installing, allow time for the index to build before you start searching.
I had to copy the install file to c drive then RUNAS to setup on nonadmin system. It wouldn’t install from network drive.
Since we DISABLED the use of Instant search (same thing) in O2k7, we are monitoring how this tool interacts w/ outlook.. does Outlook use this since it was disabled…
TECH
Windows Search 4.0 Administrator’s Guide http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/f98696ed-6e3e-47b7-ab38-511439bce7ae1033.mspx?mfr=true
Windows Search 4.0 Troubleshooting Guide
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/library/84c1c305-baaa-4352-b55a-45daaebf18df1033.mspx?mfr=true
Help and support page
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940157
Forum
http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=127&SiteID=1
…
Only the first 2 MB of a files are indexed?
From: “Dieter Burandt”
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:19:08 +0200
——————————————————————————–
Hi all,
In a technical journal there it is mentioned, that the indexer of the Windows Desktop Search 4.0 still…
Windows Search 4.0 INTRODUCTION / USING
New stuff in 4.0 :
Windows Search 4.0 includes the following improvements:
• Support for indexing encrypted documents of local file systems
• Reduced affect on Microsoft Exchange when you index e-mail in online mode, and there is no local cache (.ost)
• Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes Good for admin types I would think
• Support for client-to-client remote… (more)
Windows Search 4.0 Do’s & Don’ts
The Latest serach tool has abilities which may inhibit performance. Please do not index network shared drives… be mindful of what you add to your index
The install will put a “search desktop” bar next to your TASK bar and will put a “spyglass” in your system tray. this can be removed in the normal toolbar manner by right clicking on taskbar - Toolbar…
Windows Search 4.0 Cool Tips for searching
(From online help)
Tips for narrowing your search
Microsoft Windows Search recognizes many advanced query operators that can help you to narrow your search. These are particularly useful when you’re searching a large number of files.
Type this To find this
granny Items containing granny, GRANNY, GrANnY, or any other combination of uppercase and lowercase letters. granny smith Items containing both granny…
Windows Search 4.0 Advanced Searching example
an example of use would be
1. put in what you are searching in the search windows, then follow it by the advanced operators.
for instance. openbsi, author:diehl will get you all openbsi objects that were authored by doug diehl
Windows Search 4.0 Embedded txt
Find a word or phrase inside a file or e-mail message
In the Microsoft Windows Search results window, click the document or e-mail item you want to search.
Under the Windows Search logo, click Options , point to Preview Pane, and then click Find.
Type your search words, and then click Find Next.
Note
You must have the preview pane enabled to search for a word or phrase. For more…