Using Search Companion In Windows XP


To summon Search Companion, display the Search bar, using any of the following methods:

● Click Search on the Standard Buttons toolbar.

● Choose View, Explorer Bar, Search.

● Press Ctrl+E.

Search Companion appears in the Search Explorer bar, the pane on the left side of Internet Explorer, as shown in Figure.

If instead you see Classic Internet Search, you can switch to Search Companion as follows:

1. Click the Customize button on the Search bar.

2. Select Use Search Companion.

3. Click OK.

4. Close all Internet Explorer windows and restart Internet Explorer.


Figure. Search Companion in Internet Explorer looks, feels, and sounds like Search Companion in Windows Explorer.

Search Companion in Internet Explorer comes with animated characters to personalize your search experience, including Rover and Merlin. If you prefer, you can turn off the companions by clicking the Change Preferences link on the opening pane of Search Companion, and then clicking Without An Animated Screen Character.

Search Companion invites you to express your wishes in plain English sentences. This too is optional, of course. Whether you phrase your query like Tarzan or Henry James, Search Companion takes the significant words in your search string (ignoring conjunctions, articles, and prepositions) and passes them to the default search engine (which you can change, as you’ll see in a moment).

Search Companion also presents a sample search question, drawn at random from a store of such questions. (You might see anything here from Find comics to How bad is the traffic in Phoenix? to Read reviews of lawn tractors.) For amusement, you can click the sample question and see what emerges in the other pane.

In most cases, after responding to your search question (by displaying the results in the right pane), Search Companion will propose some follow-up questions. Sometimes those questions will seem related to your initial query, and sometimes not. Occasionally you’ll be given an opportunity to exercise your credit card (for example, Buy a Movie).