Mac OS 8.5 introduces Sherlock, a brilliant Search assistant that lets you search multiple engines simultaneously without launching a browser; hints for making the most of that facility will be in a future issue. In the meantime, for those of you without 8.5, here are some tips for searching in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and Netscape Navigator 4 that you can use right now.

In IE4, there is a built-in search engine that you access by clicking on the Search Tab at the left of the screen. Type your search terms in the text field and your results appear below. Then you can click on any of the found URLs to open the site in the browser window. If you hover over the found URLs without clicking, a balloon window pops up with the first couple of paragraphs of text from each site ù quite the time-saver.

Also in IE4, you can use the address field as a search engine. Just type "go" followed by your search parameters (for example, go Paul McCartney and a list of sites found through Yahoo appears in the window).

NetscapeÆs Navigator and Communicator 4 have a similar facility, although a bit cooler. Type a word or phrase into the address field (no need to type go) and up comes a page with multiple search engines accessible ù all of them with your search parameters already filled in.