Its time to check Windows Update again because just a few moments ago, Microsoft has released Windows Search 4.0 to Windows Update as Recommended update for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 based computers.
Windows Search 4.0 lets you perform an instant search of your computer. Windows Search 4.0 helps you find and preview documents, e-mail messages, music files, photos, and other items on the computer.
The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. You can use this search engine to index a program’s content and to obtaininstant results when you search in a particular program.
Windows Search 4.0 includes the following improvements:• Support for indexing encrypted documents of local file systems
• Reduced affect on Microsoft Exchange when you index e-mail in online mode, and there is no local cache (.ost)
• Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes
• Support for client-to-client remote query to shared indexed locations
• Improved indexing performance
• Faster previewer updates for Windows XP
• Per-user Group Policy settings
• Windows software updates for Watson errors
You can view the complete KB article here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940157
Windows Search 4.0 can be downloaded from Windows Update in Windows or you if you want to download and install it manually then grab the installer from Microsoft Download Center:
Download the 32-bit Windows XP package now
Download the 32-bit Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 package now