Desktop Search

What is Ask.com Desktop Search?

Ask.com Desktop Search is an incredibly useful search tool that lets you search your computer just as easily as you search for information on the Web. It's fast, easy to use, and can save you valuable time when looking for misplaced or hard-to-locate documents or emails.

Why should I use it?

Once you start using Ask.com Desktop Search, you'll wonder how you lived without it. Here are just some of the benefits:

• Find practically anything on your computer in seconds
• Never misplace a document again - you no longer need to spend time organising all your documents into endless folder categories and sub-categories.
• Search for important Office document, pictures, emails, music and video files, and more.
• Ask.com Desktop Search lets you search your computer, email messages, or the entire internet - all from one place
  

How does it work?

Ask.com Desktop Search keeps track of where your files are stored on your hard drive so you don't have to.

Here's how it works:

1. Right after you install it, Ask.com Desktop Search starts scanning your computer's hard disk for office files, pictures, emails, music and video files and more. Once it has indexed everything, it can locate individual files in seconds.
2. Open your Ask.com Desktop Search program and enter a keyword or phrase related to the information you need. It can be a text snippet in one of your document, an email address or the name of a photo. Ask.com Desktop Search will quickly search all your documents and provide results that match your query.
3. Find the file name you're looking for from the list of results and click to open it - it's as easy as that.

Downloaded Ask.com Desktop Search and never loose a document again.

How do I install and run the program?

It's easy. Simply:

1. Go to http://dl.uk.ask.com/askds21/docs/index.html and download Ask.com Desktop Search.
2. Go through the installation sequence, then run the application.
3. Ask.com Desktop Search will now start to index your computer. The time for this to complete will vary depending on your computer and number of files you have saved on your hard drive. Click Desktop Search Settings to specify indexing options (advanced users).

Once your computer has been indexed, you can begin using Ask.com Desktop Search!

What are the system requirements for running Ask.com Desktop Search?

You must be using Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

What is "indexing"?

Indexing is a technical term for the process by which Ask.com Desktop Search scans the files on your computer and makes a special list of them in order to help you easily find them later. As you save or add new documents to your hard drive, or send and receive emails, Ask.com Desktop Search will automatically index these items. Click Desktop Search Settings on the home page for advanced indexing options, like excluding some file or folders from your search index.

What files does Ask.com Desktop Search index?

Ask.com Desktop Search will index your most important documents, including:

• Office 2000+ for Office doc formats
• Outlook and Outlook Express for emails and attachments
• PDF and ZIP files
• Images – jpg, gif and png
• Music Files – mp3, wma and wav
• Video Files – mpeg and wmv
• Plus: bookmarks, web page history and more.

What about email?

Yes! Ask.com Desktop Search can also search all your emails in Outlook and Outlook Express.

How do I search for a document or email on my desktop?

Open your browser to desktop.uk.ask.com, or simply click on the link "desktop" in the main page of uk.ask.com. Enter a search phrase in the search box and click the Search Desktop or Search Email button. If you haven't installed Ask.com Desktop Search application, you will be prompted to download it first. Ask.com Desktop Search also comes with an application interface, for advanced users who want more control on the way their search results are displayed. Both the browser or the application interface return the same results. Learn more about the application interface.

How do I get previews of documents and emails?

Hold you mouse over the title of most search result to see an excerpt of your documents and emails. We construct these excerpts dynamically so that they are relevant to your search. In addition, a thumbnail is displayed next to each image result.

Can I interact with my emails (e.g. reply, forward, etc.)?

Yes. You can interact with an email by clicking on an email within the Ask.com result page. This will bring up the email as you normally see it in Outlook or Outlook Express.

Do I need to go to Ask.com to search my desktop?

For more convenience, install the Ask.com Toolbar to your browser. Each toolbar comes with a search box and both a desktop search and an email search option. When you open files using most windows application, you will notice new search boxes. Use these to do quick search of the document you want to open. You can also click on the windows icon tray, located at the bottom right of your screen on most computer.

What are the Upload to MyStuff links next to my images?

MyStuff is a powerful tool to upload, organise and share your images. Clicking Upload to MyStuff will upload the image on MyStuff.ask.com, when you can add notes, publish it to the web or share it with your friends and family. MyStuff is also a great way to back up your favorite photos. You must sign in to upload pictures. If you don't have a MyStuff account yet, Signing up is free and only takes one minute.

Do I have to use my browser to search my desktop?

No. Ask.com Desktop Search also comes with a windows application interface. Both interfaces will return the same results with any search. However, the application interface gives you more control over the layout of your search results, as well as more powerful file previews.

I started a search using my browser. Can I switch to the application interface?

Yes, at any time. Click on "Show Results using the Application Interface" at the bottom of any desktop search result page, and the application interface will open for this search. You'll see the same results, but the application interface gives you more controls and more previews than the web interface. Perfect for more advanced users.

I prefer to use the application interface. What should I do?

You can specify the application interface to be your default option for most searches. Right click on the Ask.com icon in the windows icon tray, usually located at the bottom right of your screen. In the menu, select "Always use the application interface"'. That way, double clicking on the same icon, or searching from one of the windows search box will search using the application interface. However, all searches started using your browser will show the results in the browser.

Can I preview all files and emails using the application interface?

Yes. With the application interface, seeing previews of your files and emails is a snap. Simply click on a specific entry in a list of results and a preview will appear to the right. This works for all major document types including audio and video files.

What are Preferences?

Ask.com Desktop Search gives you the flexibility to choose what types of files you want indexed on your computer.

• You can choose whether to index Outlook/Outlook Express emails
• You can choose which folders to index and which folders to leave out
• You can choose whether to index your computer more quickly (performance may be slower), or more slowly (performance will not be affected), or let the application intelligently decide.

What if I want to do a web search using the application interface?

The application interface also features built-in web search so you don't have to use a browser if you don't want to. You can conveniently search the internet, your computer, and email all from the same place.

What is Writely?

Writely (http://www.writely.com) is an online word-processing tool that allows users to create and edit documents which can then be shared for collaboration. Ask.com Desktop Search enables you to search for documents within Writely. Look for more integration points in the near future.

Is there any risk to my Privacy?

None. All the information related to your desktop, including the index, are located on your computer. No information goes through the Internet, even if you do a desktop search using your browser. Ask.com takes your privacy very seriously: we do not monitor nor have access to any of your desktop files. You can read more about our Privacy Policy at: http://sp.uk.ask.com/en/docs/about/privacy.shtml.

Will Ask.com Desktop Search affect my computer's performance?

The only time Ask.com Desktop Search may affect your computer's performance is during its initial indexing of your hard drive. And you can pause or fine-tune the indexing by clicking on Desktop Search Setting from the home page (or use the Indexing menu if you are using the application interface). Setting indexing to slow mode will virtually eliminate any impact to the performance of your computer, but indexing will take longer to complete. Selecting Automatic mode will wait for your computer to be idle to build the index.

Once your computer has been indexed, its performance should not be affected.

How do I uninstall?

You can easily uninstall Ask.com Desktop Search at any time. To do so:

• Click the Start button in the bottom-left corner of your desktop
• Select Programs from the pull-up menu
• Select Ask.com Desktop Search
• Click Uninstall

What if I haven't found an answer to my question?

If you require further assistance with regard to Ask.com Desktop Search, you can contact Customer Support.