Like its rivals, MSN Search offers queries in a variety of categories -- including images, news and local retailers. A downloadable MSN Search toolbar -- a test release for the Windows version of Internet Explorer -- also allows you to look for files on your computer's hard drive.
A nifty "search builder" tool offers users a sliding-bar control to focus searches by such criteria as the last time a site posted new content and how many people visit it.
MSN's search engine certainly outstrips those of Yahoo and Google in one aspect: its commercial density. Google includes a list of text-only ads on the side of results pages, but MSN includes them at the top, side and bottom of every page.
MSN Search may not get anybody to defect from Google or Yahoo. But at least Microsoft's search engine -- previously a clunky Yahoo-driven relic -- will no longer actively drive people away.
