exalead one:desktop 4.6 VS Windows Search 4.0
Exalead and Microsoft have recently released the last version of their respective free desktop search solution. I have quickly compared those last versions.
1. Installation
Both solution are easy to install but exalead helps the user who are not familiar to index concepts thanks to a good wizard which starts after the installation . In Windows Search, adding a folder could be tricky for non initiated users.
2. Indexing
The time to index are similar in both applications but for the same indexing time exalead creates a preview of every document (see the next paragraph). the index monitor is also clearer in Exalead.
3. Search Results
In this topic, exalead one:desktop is clearly ahead Windows search. The document preview in exalead displays in a flash a preview of the document and highlight the word(s) used in your search criteria. The document preview in Windows Search is slower than opening the document itself :) . Narrowing a search result in Exalead is so intuitive that you will find the document you search in a blink of an eye.
4. Conclusion
I expected more from the last version of Windows search 4.0 and I was disappointed not to see major improvements compare to what I saw in similar products some years ago. Exalead is still my favourite free desktop search engine with Copernic (not from Coveo anymore). Exalead offers a simple desktop search solution for your personal desktop but their enterprise version stays behind other solution specialised in this area like Coveo, Vivissimo…
Be Xin Fu 
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