Yahoo plans upgrades on e-mail storage, desktop searches

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo Inc. is quadrupling the amount of storage provided with its free e-mail accounts and upgrading its desktop search software in its ongoing duel with rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Yahoo said late Tuesday that it will provide 1 gigabyte of storage for each free e-mail account. The current limit is 250 megabytes. The expanded storage will be available in mid-April, said Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo’s vice president of communications products.

The Sunnyvale-based company also is expanding the reach of its desktop software, a test product designed to find material stored on computer hard drives. Yahoo’s software, licensed from X1 Technologies, will now index content from e-mail address books and discussions in Yahoo’s instant messaging service.

The expanded e-mail storage enables Yahoo to catch up with online search engine leader Google, which offers an invitation-only service that has been offering 1 gigabyte of storage for nearly a year.