The search tool is expected to be able to return search results from Yahoos news, entertainment and music offerings, as well as the general web.

Yahoo! Inc., an internet portal and web hosting provider, recently announced its plans to release the beta version of a desktop search application in January.

Yahoo, has licensed the technology from X1 Technologies Inc., to help users search e-mail and a variety of files, from photos and music to PDF-format documents, on their hard drives. The search tool is also expected to be able to return search results from Yahoos news, entertainment and music offerings, as well as the general web. Google introduced a beta version of its hard-drive search engine in October. Microsoft released a beta version of its homegrown search engine, MSN Search, last month, but the tool does not include desktop search.

Whit Andrews, analyst for market researcher Gartner Inc., said all three competitors are expected to eventually offer desktop search as one more mechanism for keeping consumers involved in their sites.

Last month, Google announced the availability of the Google Deskbar API.