A week using the Google Desktop Search
General Thoughts October 25th, 2004
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Tags: Microsoft
A week using the Google Desktop Search
Last week when Google came up with its Desktop Search, it promised to make finding files on our desktop a lot less painful. Knowing Google and its other services, I had little doubt that the new tool from their stable would be incredible. A week using it and I am not disappointed. It consumes manageable system RAM, gives me results in a format I am most used to watching (Google’s web results) and best thing of all it will only improve from here.
Agreed, the software support is limited. You can search through only the most popular file formats. PDF and many other formats are currently not supported. However, it is just the beginning. Google learns fast and we can be sure an update would cover-up most of the requisitions. But one thing is for sure, they need to start realizing that there are browsers in the market other than Internet Explorer and some people do use email clients which are not from Microsoft’ stable. They seem to have taken the popular approach in the first beta supporting what an average computer user would be using in day-to-day life.
Other than that, with Microsoft jumping into the fray with an announcement that their own desktop search tool would be out by the end of the year, exciting days are ahead. Although I have my doubts, but Microsoft who knows the Operating System inside out can come up with something that can surprise many souls. And I cannot wait to test their capabilities. Their MSN Search engine in its new avatar is disappointing to say the least.
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What about Google Desktop for the Mac????
What about security of multi-user systems?
Good point. Google should also start to realize that people use OS other than Windows… Every application of theirs is based on Windows Platform and even worse, very few supports OS older than Windows 2000.
And, yeah… Security is important as well…
Ditto the OS limitation.
Are users really so stupid as to not already know where they keep their files at? Anybody ever thought about putting all the data files in an organized folder structure under the MyDocuments folder? I see this a another useless Windows gimmick.
I like it…
Mr. PC User must only have two or three documents in his “organized folder structure”. Those of us with thousands need a search tool, no matter how organized we are. Do you know what’s inside every document you have? I doubt it. I’ve been using Google Desktop for a couple weeks now, and I don’t know how I ever got along without it.
Hi,
I wanted to download and install the new Google Desktop, but got the message that there is some program or Firewall preventing this from happening, and I should delete Google Desktop again, update or delete one or more of over a dozen programs, and then start over again.
Do you have any guidance on which programs may interfere and need to be deleted or updated before I screw up my whole system in order to use the Google Desktop ?
I use Windows XP with the Service Pack 2 installed.
Thank you,
I’ve had mine installed for a similar time. However, in a business environment, there are issues. We are using Exchange server, for instance, so I’m not getting my mail accounts searched. And the other docs I want to look at are Excel — but I only have a shortcut on my desktop. That resides on a server too, revised by others. As well, I had to get the IT guy to install it, but it needs more rights that I have in my account to even show up. (This is Windows 2000.) So put me down as disappointed.
Google’s search concept is nothing new. AltaVista Personal Web Browser was a freeware download a few years back and did the same thing- creating a local index, and displaying local results in a web browser in webstyle hyperlink format. And merely storing stuff in “My Documents” as said by some is no guarantee that it will be found, not with today’s huge multi-gig drives and the tons of information people like to harvest.
I tried it - but uninstalled it. I use alot of Excel files and even though it said it could search them it didn’t. No use to me - so I uninstalled it. Also I worried that anyone could sit down at my computer and in only moments have a good idea of what I had stored in my files. Didn’t see anykind of password feature.
Where is is for the Mac someone asked? I guess when Apple has more that 3% market share. Sorry, thats the way it is.
I downloaded and tried Google Desktop and decided the Google Toolbar was all I needed. After I deleted the Google Desktop, my Quick Launch toolbar had to be loaded manually at every boot. Multiple e-mails to Google asking for help with the resolution to this problem went unanswered. Very poor customer service.
I am very disappointed with the Google Desktop. Copernic is way more superior. Copernic indexes absolutely everything and you if it doesn’t you can add formats yourself! Also, you can preview everything! Check it out yourself: Copernic Desktop. Google: stick to what you know, seems they are into proving something to Microsoft, but it does not provide us users with the ultimate tool.
Get Lookout 1.2 and you will experience the lightning fast Microsoft search utility of the future - much, much faster than Google Desktop. You can download it from http://www.lookoutsoft.com/Lookout/download.html
Its great but I also like Copernic Desktop Search. Martin
Where is the support for Firefox Browser?
WOW, with the new Google search tool I can now toss my files
anywhere on the hard drive. I never need to know where I have I put
anything! I can make a real mess of it now! As long as I have the
Google search tool to act as my brain, I can still find my files!
Wup-hee!
I like Looksmart, but you can’t use it if you don’t have Outlook, which is just plain dumb. You could, once you get past the initial setup, but if you didn’t have Outlook, you couldn’t get past it.
There’s something kind of bothersome about it. If you clear your internet explorer history, cookies, and temporary internet files, then run a desktop search for one of those deleted items they still show up.
I’ve never really had a problem finding files or emails in windows, so I don’t see this product going huge. I think it’s main feature is that it’s carrying google’s “oh so amazing” reputation with it. Which, as of late, has suffered - just look at gmail (which is crap - no email folders, clunky interface, and them trying to keep emails in context that I never had problems differentiating to begin with), or the fact that google’s recent search engine results have been abandoning the pagerank model because it’s so easy to artifically boost your ranking, and instead using on-page factors. The result is the equivalent of yahoo search, but with more pages. Indexing more pages just requires more hardware and money, so that’s not much of an advantage.
1. Lookout is Outlook only and searches on mails. M2 does a better job.
2. GMail does not have folder coz it uses a database like structure. Which is again something new for people who have not used something like M2.
3. Google’s result getting distorted is something they are working hard on. They keep on changing their algorithms but when you are the most used search engines, you are the most targetted one around.
4. I also feels Google Desktop Search needs to update the cache a little more speedily. Especially files changed, updated and deleted.
Cool tool, especially for free. A little scary how it can bring up cached copies of your bank statements, web based emails and and other documents procurred from from secure sources. This leaves something to be desired on a multi-user system. Hopefully, they’ll improve security!
“Lookout is Outlook only and searches on mails.”
Actually you can set it up to index files as well…
Personally I have serious security concerns, especially on multiuser computers.
Also, Google needs to hook into the FileSystemWatcher (Don’t worry if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it is a core part of the OS’s functionality. I notifies apps when files are changed… nothing you can access directly.) That would fix the problem with Google not staying in “sync”. I’d expect to see a fix in the future.
Alright it doesn’t have security, it has only a limited number of formats it can support, it doesn’t work with most OS’s, it has bunch of bugs as a beta version, and there are better products in the market..but the result look like a “google” search. Yahoo! Is Google to be the second coming of the “santo venerado” (AKA MS)?
Google desktop does find PDF files despite your commentator’s statement. Just put filetype:pdf in the desktop search box. It pays to read the features and help sections! I can’t, however, make it find rtf files even though they have been created in Word. Give away the Windows search!
it’s also a very dangerous tool, if more then one user uses the same PC
Have you seen blinkX ?
Have you seen blinkX??
omg. I can’t believe people complaining about the “danger” and “insecurity” of this tool. Do you not realize all the files it finds are out in the open in the first place, it’s just the google desktop makes finding them easier for people who don’t konw how to use their computer? Any self-respecting sleuth would be able to find them just as fast. Oh, no, the “danger”. You now can easily see just how (in)secure your systems are. Before you could hide in the bliss of ignorance. Who are you people? phbs?
Dear Mr yo, I think that the concern of most people is an open invitation to search their files for anyone with a casual interest rather than a hacker who shows up carring his own CD full of search tools.
Google’s Desktop search IS limited….The question is, will enhancements and upgrades be free, or will they become subscription items?
i doubt google will make desktop search paid option considering the competition hotting up. though they sell the corporate version:
http://www.google.com/appliance/
I’m getting really tired of all the security alarmists. GSD does NOT increase your security risk. Any file the current user has access to GSD indexes. Which means that you can already look at those files. If you don’t want those files accessible then you need to either encript those files, move them to a location not accessible by that user, or move to a more secure OS.
I’ve been using GDS for a week as well and find it invaluable. It has helped me find documents at work that I thought were lost. As an I.S. professional doing alot of project management work, I have authored hundreds of documents in the last year alone. What a great tool!
I’m sure that support for other OSs and browsers is coming. This is a BETA, people! When we do our pilot releases here there may only be 10-100 users in the group and most products are NOT fully developed. In fact, in some circumstances we rely on pilot feedback to put a spit-shine on the product.
This new product cements Google’s place as a leader in bringing practical computing to the masses. We’ve been promised a better life style with personal computing for decades. Google is helping fulfill that promise.
Better
Search for text in Office files, emails, it is OK, for other search, Turbo Searcher is better, it is a real nice tool.
Windows has got a wonderful integrated search program, so I don’t think there is any need for this.
I have 150 GBs of HDD space. around 2million files. out of which around 250K would be documents webpages (complete wikipedia downloaded here). how long you think windows search will take to search for clark kent inside page content on this database?
[...] release before the end of the year, better days are ahead. One of the major concerns with Google Desktop Search besides privacy was Google ignoring [...]
I’ve been using Copernic Desktop Search. If you map a network folder as a drive on your computer, you can search it.
I tried google desktop, and it is ok, but you guys should try the new version of Copernic1.5. this realy rocks..!!