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MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today

From Slashdot.org:

Microsoft today released the MSN Toolbar Suite Beta. This brings true desktop search to Windows (for those who don't have Google Desktop Search or similar software running already) and also includes features like search term highlighting in web pages, auto-completing of forms, and a pop-up blocker.

Sadly, for me, it doesn't install on Windows 2003 Server.  Why the heck not?  Google Desktop Search has no problem installing on Win2k3 (and it's beta).  Lookout works fine, too, and since Microsoft owns Lookout I wouldn't be surprised if their Toolbar Suite had a lot of Lookout's core functionality built in.  I hope this “no install on Win2k3“ issue will be fixed by RTM.

For those using one of the supported operating systems (Windows 2000 SP4 or WinXP), care to share your experiences/thoughts/opinions?  Currently I use Lookout - I uninstalled Google Desktop Search because (at this time) it won't let you specify file types to index (such as .cs files, .aspx files, .xml files, etc.).  Also, what I'd like to be able to do is interact with the search results.  Say I search for “DataGrid,” and get back a plethora of files.  I'd like to be able to easily move a file from one folder to another, for example, or rename it.  What GDS does have in spades, though, is a really killer UI, much nicer than Lookout's, especially with its integration with searches on Google.com.

posted on Monday, December 13, 2004 6:27 PM

Feedback

# re: MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today 12/13/2004 7:34 PM Joel Ross

Scott,

I have the same problem you do - no Windows 2003 support! I'm pretty disappointed by that.

As for GDS not supporting file type configuration, check out http://www.trivex.net/. It's an admitted hack, but it works great for me. Now I can search my source without a problem! It still doesn't solve moving files, but it's a step in the right direction.

# re: MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today 12/13/2004 7:49 PM Tim P

I saw this on a Slashdot comment about installing on Windows Server 2003:

"requires /c /t: to unpack and then
msiexec /i MsnToolbarSuite.msi TBSDEVCODE=1 to install on 2003 server."

# MSN Search Roundup 12/13/2004 8:10 PM JOEL'S BLOG

# MSN Search Roundup 12/13/2004 8:10 PM Joel Ross

# MSN Search Roundup 12/13/2004 8:10 PM Joel's Virtual Desktop

# re: MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today 12/14/2004 9:05 AM Artem Saveliev

You can see the demo here:
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=32068#32068

they show the integration with Windows shell, I think much nicer than google! Also, the search-as-you-type is cool. And the shortcuts.

# re: MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today 12/14/2004 11:03 PM Wessam Zeidan

Have you tried Copernic Desktop Search? its free, and it works fine for me.

# re: MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today 12/15/2004 6:48 AM Stephen Stchur

Maybe other readers can enlighten me on this, but as a very anal-retentitive computer user, I keep all of my files so neatly organized in easy-to-understand directory structures (and believe me I have quite a lot of archived files from many many years) that I simply have little to no need for a desktop search like GDS or MSN Toolbar. Quite honestly, it's faster for me to simply browse my files using Windows Explorer. It generally takes very little time at all.

So there must be something more. What exactly is it that you guys are doing with these desktop search programs? Why do they make your lives so much easier?

-Steve

# re: MSN Toolbar Suite Beta Released Today 12/15/2004 8:45 AM Scott Mitchell

Stephen, I keep my files in good directories as well, but being able to search the *contents* of the file are typically what these tools help with. For example, I may know that a particular friend sent me an email with his new phone number. Rather than pecking through the various emails in the folder I move that friend's messages to, I just type in the string "*friend's name* phone number" and, blamo, the email pops up. Much, much, much, much faster and easier than using Outlook's built-in search. Also, helpful for searching IM logs, looking for specific keywords in source code files, etc.

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