Introduction to the Windows Desktop Search (WDS) Solution for the Enterprise: (Webcast 6-1-2006)

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Good Afternoon Searchers!  J

Thank you for attending the web cast on Windows Desktop Search (WDS).  I hope you enjoyed the tool and are as excited as I am about how great this tool is! I also want to send a huge thank you to Matt Carlson for helping me out on the Q/A, as promised here is the scrubbed Q/A log.  I also have some really good resources for you to help with Windows Desktop Search. 

Here is where you can download WDS:
https://www.microsoft.com/windows/desktopsearch/enterprise/downloads.mspx 

I also did a screen cast highlighting the advanced search capabilities here; also this blog entry has several links to resources for WDS:
https://blogs.technet.com/matthewms/archive/2006/05/17/428884.aspx

Watch the stream of the web cast here:
Introduction to the Windows Desktop Search (WDS) Solution for the Enterprise

Please comment if you need more information. 

Enjoy and happy searching!

Question: Can the search also search an Exchange information store for emails?
Answer: Yes, you can index your Outlook inbox (I recommend you use Cached mode) PST files, even public folders.   However, Outlook must be running for this data to be indexed.

Question: Does Windows Desktop Search have any conflicts with workstations that already have Google Desktop Search Installed other than doubling the index creation generation and storage?
Answer: None, which I am aware of.  My only concern would be drive space, depending on what and how much you index; the indexes potentially could be quite large.  From my experience WDS’ index is more up to date and more streamlined.

Question: Can you control where the indexes are stored to avoid filling up the  system drive in a multi-drive system?
Answer: Yes, this is very easy to do, go into the Advanced Settings in WDS settings, and you will be given the choice on what and where to index.

Question: Can the indexing service be configured to have no impact on interactive applications, so it stops immediately when I move the mouse or type a key?
Answer: Windows Desktop search has a built in feature called the Smart Indexer Back-off. This is designed to automatically stop/pause the indexing service if it detects the system is in use. The back-off feature looks for these 3 things and when it detects usage it will pause:

  • Keyboard & mouse use
  • High CPU utilization
  • High I/O

Additionally WDS offers incremental indexing, which dramatically reduces the impact on the system by scanning the system on startup and almost all of the changes to the indexes are handled through system notifications. So in sense, WDS does not need to be configured it is designed to a “good citizen” for your systems. These design changes are much needed improvements from previous versions of the tool.

Question: Does Office 2007 require WDS 3.0 or will it work with 2.6.5
Answer: Yes, Office 2007 will require WDS 3.0

Question: Do the PST files need to be included in a profile to be indexed?
Answer: Yes, the PST files that you want to be indexed have to be loaded in a user’s Outlook profile to be indexed.