Posted by Paul

We’ve been a bit slow in updating our blog recently, but rest assured we’ve been busy working! This past Tuesday, we released Windows Desktop Search 3.0 Beta 2. This is the first public release we’ve made since April, when we put out our Engine Preview. Things have improved significantly in the past 4 months:

• Most importantly, the UI is back! We weren’t happy enough with the state of the UI in our prior release, so we had disabled it by default. This confused a lot of people last time, and was one of our largest complaints.
• For the first time ever, we have a working 64-bit version. While most 32-bit applications run just fine on 64-bit Windows, our tight integration with the explorer shell makes this harder than it initially appears. For many of you, the lack of WDS on 64-bit was a reason for staying on 32-bit Windows – now you’ve got one less reason to hold back!
• We've improved the memory consumption, performance, and overall fit-and-finish.

If you’re still running Windows Desktop Search 2.6.5 (or even an earlier version than that), we’ve made even more changes since then:

• The indexer now runs as a system service, and many other applications use the same index. This means you don’t even have to be logged in to have WDS index your hard drive – it all happens in the background. If multiple people use the same computer, there’s only one index and with no duplication of data.
• We’ve changed the algorithm for backing off on user activity – making your system more responsive while you’re using it, but letting the indexer kick into “high gear” when you’re away.

Especially if you’re running the WDS 3.0 Engine Preview, we encourage you to upgrade and give us feedback on this release.

Windows Desktop Search 3.0 Beta 2 for Windows XP
Windows Desktop Search 3.0 Beta 2 for Windows Server 2003
Windows Desktop Search 3.0 Beta 2 for Windows XP Professional x64 or Windows Server 2003 x64

Let us know what you think!