Windows Search 4.0 was released in June and Microsoft says it has "seen a good number of downloads, and a number of positive responses from customers." The advantage over Vista's built-in search function is one of performance, the company claims. The structure of the search index was completely redesigned to speed up locating items on the hard drive and networked PCs.

But not all changes will happen behind the scenes. Version 4.0 will place a new "Deskbar" next to Vista's system tray that makes it possible to perform searches directly from the Windows Taskbar. A pop-up lets users select whether to search locally or on the Web, and choose filtering options.

In BetaNews tests of Windows Search 4.0, we found the software doesn't try to replace the default search engine selected by the user, a good move considering it may soon be on over 100 million PCs. Microsoft has also attempted to make the transition fairly painless, promising, "the indexing process doesn't take too long and won't lock your PC."

Responses from users have been generally positive, although Windows Search 4.0 isn't without its quirks. You have to manually change between searching between files and e-mail, and networked drives aren't indexed by default because it requires Windows Search to be installed on each system. A lack of results can also bring up strange error messages, one BetaNews reader reported.

View full review : here