For so many of us, Google has become an integral part of our online experience, reliably guiding us through the vastness of the web. Now Google brings its mighty search power to your computer.

About Google Desktop

Google Desktop is a simple yet powerful tool that enables you to search your computer for files in the same way you use Google to search the web. Sorry Maccers, but currently it’s only offered to those with Windows 2000 or Windows XP.

Available as a free download, Google Desktop Search sits - you’ve guessed it – on your desktop ready for when you need to find a file. Punch in the search term and it will then scour the following areas:

• emails (included deleted messages)
• files, namely Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, pictures, MP3 files and so on
• web pages viewed online, or any HTML files on your computer
• AOL instant messages

The results are displayed in reverse date order, but you can rearrange them by the above categories. Each result is linked, so you click to open the email in Outlook, the document in Word, etc. It will also tell you which folder the item is in, handy for those with haphazard filing systems.

The verdict

Like Google itself, the Desktop tool returns results very quickly and is incredibly easy to use. There’s no doubt it’s a million miles better than Microsoft’s hopeless search facility.

For the first week, I used Google Desktop exhaustively.

But then I realised something. Basically, the tool dispenses with the need to have any sort of filing system. As a consequence, it rapidly becomes an excuse for bad filing. Why bother putting stuff in the right place if your faithful hound will find it for you while you slob out on the couch?

I found that pretty soon, the short cut became corner cutting as I started to let my normally well ordered filing system go, safe in the knowledge that Google Desktop would find files for me.

The tool was teetering on the brink of becoming indispensable when I made the deliberate decision to stop using it as much. I told myself the virtue of locating a well positioned file ought to be its own reward. Before long I got things back in order and nowadays I only use Google Desktop to find long deleted files.

Want to give it a go? Download it from here.

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