I read the main page of the Copernic2000 site and found they had several versions available. I was only interested in the free version, just to try it out. Unlike other search engines, where you input your parameters right on the site in a text box, Copernic2000 is a program you download and run separately from your browser or Internet programs. The file size wasn’t large (the installed files take up 3.8MB). An icon was put on my desktop, which I usually delete, but for some reason left it there. I double-clicked on it and was pretty surprised at what I saw - a nice interface with 55 categories to search. But the free version only allows you to search six categories: The web, newsgroups, e-mail addresses, buy books, buy hardware, buy software. I tried a search on each to see if it really worked. Once you select a category you can have the search Answer My Question; Search for all words; Search for any words; Search for exact phrase.

I decided to try llamas and my results were:
• The Web - 74 results, the first was a site called Loveable Llamas
• Newsgroups - 30 results, the first was from RemarQ, the newsgroup was rec.music.makers.songwriting, and the post was from a guy who wrote a song about llamas. Really.
• E-mail Addresses - 86 results, the first was someone using llamas as their e-mail username
• Buy Books - 70 results, the first was A GUIDE TO RAISING LLAMAS
• Buy Hardware - 20 results, the first was for Plus Lawanna Llama
• Buy Software - 0

If you upgrade to Copernic Plus for $39.95, you get 55 categories (610 search engines), no ad banners, and a customizable category bar; upgrade to Copernic Pro for $79.95 and in addition to the extras you get with Plus, you’ll get scheduled search updates (with auto-dialing), E-mail notification of new documents, automated validate, download and refine, and query spell-checker.

The other categories you’ll get include:
Auctions, Business & Finance, Cars, Computer Security, Encyclopedias, File Search, Games, Health, Humor, Images, Kids, Life, Movies, MP3, Multimedia, Music, Newspapers, Newswire, Recipes, Science, Software, Sports News, Tech News, Tech Reviews, Top News, Travel, Yellow Pages.

Copernic searches up to and over 10 search engines/sites (depending on your search category) and has a pop-up windows that shows each search engine/site being searched and the progress on results. Results give the web site URL, any pertinent info and if you click on the URL, it’ll open your web browser and take you to the site in a snap. Search results are kept as long as you want them. There is no expiration date and the banner ads aren’t that bad. For a free program, this is pretty nifty and definitely worth it. But paying the extra $40 or so isn’t going to attract a lot of people unless they’re search nuts. I’d suggest to Copernic to lower the price and I can bet sales would soar. I know I’d seriously consider upgrading.

System Requirements:
• 486-33 MHz
• 8 MB of RAM
• 5 MB of disk space
• Windows 95/98 or later, Windows NT 4.0 or later
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later, Netscape Navigator 3.0 (32-bit) or later Year 2000 compliant
• Supports the Microsoft IntelliMouse
• Supports multi-user configurations for individual searches and settings
• Windows compliant software uninstall procedure

J.A. Hitchcock is a regular contributor to Compute Me. Visit her web site at jahitchcock.com.