Creating Custom Search Providers in IE7

There is a neat little feature in Internet Explorer 7 called customized searching. If you select the drop down menu next to the magnifying glass beside the search field, you will see that you can select whichever search engine you want to get your results from.

If you really want to have some great options, select Find More Providers. On this page, you can select additional search providers to include places like eBay, WikiPedia, and even Wal Mart.

But the best part is that you can create your own providers from this page. All you do is go to a page that has search features you want and do a random search. Then, If URL address of the search result page includes your search term(s), you simply copy the whole string and paste it into Step 3 of the Create Your Own on the right side of the Find More Providers page.

Then, find the original search term in the URL string and replace it with the word TEST, all in caps. Finally, in Step 4, give the search a name and select Install. An Add Search Provider window will pop up and just select Add Provider.

When you want to search a particular site, such as eBay, simply type in your search term in the search field of IE7 and select the drop down menu to select eBay. The resulting results will come directly from eBay's web page.

I have already created several custom searches you can use for yourself that are not offered in the topic search options of Find More Providers. Use and enjoy.

FedEx Tracking
https://www.fedex.com/insight/findit/nrp.jsp?tracknumbers=TEST&language=en&clienttype=ivother&opco=FDEG

CDW
http://www.cdw.com/shop/search/results.aspx?key=TEST&sr=1&platform=all&x=16&y=9

Download.com
http://www.download.com/3120-20_4-0.html?tg=dl-20&qt=TEST&tag=srch

Digg
http://digg.com/search?section=news&s=TEST

IMDB (Internet Movie Database)
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=TEST

YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=TEST

Anagram Searches
http://wordsmith.org/anagram/anagram.cgi?anagram=TEST

USPS Package Tracking
http://trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/InterLabelInquiry.do?origTrackNum=TEST