Bing

Bing is a search engine developed by Microsoft. It provides a standard web search, as well as specialized searches for images, videos, shopping, news, maps, and other categories.

Bing originated from MSN Search, which later became Windows Live Search (or simply "Live Search"). Microsoft renamed the search engine to "Bing" in June of 2009. The name change also reflected Microsoft's new direction with the search engine, which the company branded as a "decision engine." Bing is designed to help users make important decisions faster. This focus is summarized in the search engine's slogan, "Bing and decide."

Bing differentiates itself from other search engines like Google and Yahoo in several different ways. For instance, Bing's home page includes a background image or video that is updated every day. You can click on different areas of the background to learn more about the daily topic. Bing also uses Microsoft's proprietary search algorithm to provide relevant search results. These results may include "instant answers," which provide helpful information at the top of the search results page for specific types of queries. The search results may also include images, videos, shopping information, or news stories that are relevant to the keywords you entered.

You can choose to sign into Bing using your Windows Live ID or your Facebook login. When you are logged into Facebook, Bing displays which of your friends "Like" specific webpages in the search results. If you want even more Facebook integration, you can download the "Bing Bar," which provides News Feed updates directly from the toolbar in Internet Explorer. The Bing Bar also provides one-click access to weather, maps, videos, stock quotes, and other information.

Try Bing for yourself.