The searching capabilities in Vista are one of its best features and one of the most useful, and now it’s about to get even better. Just yesterday Microsoft launched the first preview of Windows Search 4.0. It is the successor to the Windows Search Platform which means it replaces Instant Search on Vista and Windows Desktop Search 3.0 on XP. In a nutshell, this preview is an update to the Windows Search indexer. In addition, they squashed some bugs and made improvements to performance, reliability, and recoverability features.
For Vista users, they can expect the following improvements (note that Windows Search 4.0 is an extension to the built-in searching capabilities in Vista):
- 33% faster query response time
- Remote Index Discovery has been extended for PC-to-PC Search which means finding information shared on a remote PC is easy
- Rollback Recovery has been implemented (meaning the search index will “roll back” to the last known good state in the event of an error)
For XP users, they can expect the following (note that Windows Search 4.0 is an extension to Windows Desktop Search for XP):
- XP users have the ability to search remote indexes for network shares
- Ability to host Vista-style preview handlers in the preview pane (when you’re doing a search, you can click on a file and see a preview in the preview pane)
- Faster previewer updates for XP
According to information on Microsoft’s website regarding Windows Search 4.0 for XP users, “The WS4 installation process automatically upgrades Windows Desktop Search 2.6 or later versions of Windows Search Technologies.” If you have an earlier version (prior to 2.6) installed, you’ll have to remove the application first before installing Windows Search 4.0.
Searching in both Vista, XP, and Windows Server 2003 has just gotten even better, thanks to Windows Search 4.0. If you’d like to download it, click here for the download links.
Source: Windows Vista Blog
Great information Ashley! I know the users on my network will be glad to hear about this. I only hope they have fixed some of the problems and quirks I found with it on the Windows XP platform.
Sounds good! One question before I install it: does it support indexing and previewing attachments of emails in Outlook now? The previous version does not, which is why I remained with Copernic Desktop Search.
I would guess that if it has the same preview handlers now as Vista that it should support Outlook just fine.
I don’t think it does inside Outlook emails. I was also expecting virtual folders on XP.
I still think Spotlight work A LOT better I have used both and Spotlight is just smoother.
Does that mean that when you get a PDF attachment (not a file on disk) in the results, you get to see it within the Windows Search environment without having to open it separately? WDS on XP does not support that at the moment.
Check this out: [microsoft.com] If you’re using Outlook 2003, then this version drops support for it.
Nowhere it is said that WDS 4 will drop support for Outlook 2003? It only says that the Vista version of WDS does not support Outlook 2003.
But but typically, MS does not add features if the previous version does not have it. Also, why don’t you try it out yourself?
It’s not clear to me what the previous version is, especially on XP
I would try it myself if it was a final release. Rather not take the risk of it screwing with my system if it still doesn’t support what Copernic supports
Anyway, I guess I’ll just wait 
Well since no one has commented on this aspect(Ashley), I thought I would. If your running Windows Vista/Service Pack 1 you really want too download this Upgrade for WDS. Why??? This is the beautiful part, when Microsoft “reworked the code” for the utility they also changed some aspect of “How Vista Will Manage the Available System Memory”.
I’m truly surprised with all the savvy people who comment on this site, that no one has noticed this fact. Microsoft isn’t publishing the fact either but you can watch as Vista loads up from BOOT and watch the Memory try and balance itself. I have only two Gigs I can load 4 but it’s a waste on 32 bit OS. (2.75 Gigs max utilized by OS)
I generally ran about 57% of available ram with Vista loading, now I run about 50% or less so for me this is “Must install update”. I couldn’t fathom WDS 3.0 consuming that much of additional resources. Vista isn’t holding onto the same amount of RAM that it used too.
Call it a perk and not a fluke, I have loaded WDS 4.0 on some other systems and observed the same reaction.
But apparently it does, try this out for yourself Ryan you’ll be amazed I was. Get the Update. At least for Vista.
I’ve been watching my memory usage since download on the March 27th.
I don’t have a lot of experience with Spotlight, but from what I’ve seen it does actually look nicer.
Technically it should, but that doesn’t happen in Vista by default either. You have to install Adobe Acrobat Reader 8 to get the necessary preview handler in Vista.
I’m not sure I completely understand what you’re getting at. With Service Pack 1 Microsoft changed how the operating system reports the memory available. I just got done upgrading a laptop that had 4GB of RAM, but it wasn’t until I upgraded to Vista SP1 that the system was reporting that all of it was available to be used. But this has nothing to do with WDS, and so I don’t think I understand what new thing you are noticing.
Yeah, that’s true, but the machine I use which has the previous version only enabled PDF previews on files, not attachments. Apparently that’s normal behaviour too..
RE: Windows Search 4.0
One of my secondary machines is an older PIII class AMD 700mhz with an oem version of XP Pro SP3.
I was having intermittent lockups until I went into Control Panel and removed Windows Search 4.0 after viewing events in Event Viewer
(Administrative Tools).
I do not know if I will reinstall Windows Search although I haven’t had any lockups since the removal.