Desktop Search

After a recent search to find a single email among the 1000+ emails in my inbox, I gave up in frustration after a few minutes of searching. I needed a quick and easy way to search for key terms not only in my email, but also documents on my computer.

Enter the recent desktop search applications from Google, Yahoo and MSN. I installed Google's Desktop Search (GDS), and found that it includes features such as indexing websites that I have viewed in the past and many formats of files. It opens in a browser window, and when searching for local items is as quick as a search on Google's website.

After reading about the features of Yahoo Desktop Search and MSN Toolbar Suite, I decided to install both of them to see what I was missing. Yahoo Desktop Search (YDS) is a windows program. The feature Yahoo provides that I like is the ability to preview the original format of various types of files in a window pane. Another feature YDS provides is the ability to search email attachments and display them in the preview window.

MSN Toolbar Suite (MTS) more closely resembles GDS. Its search and results are displayed in a browser window. One unique feature that MTS provides is a view of your recent search history. This is handy when you need to find a document that you use frequently.

All three desktop search applications provide quick access to your email and files. They provide email capability (for example, when you find that email you were searching for, you can reply or forward the email simply by clicking a button or link in the search application). When you install each application, it requires a certain amount idle computer time to index your hard drive. Once the initial index has completed, each application appears to continuously monitor your hard drive for new files and emails, and index them as they show up on your computer.

I have been using Google Desktop Search exclusively for about a month, but after installing Yahoo Desktop Search, I like the feature of being able to search for and preview email attachments. I think that I'm going to begin using Yahoo Desktop Search as my primary desktop search application.

Conclusion: Many desktop search applications have appeared recently to help make searching your computer as easy as searching the web. Google Desktop Search, Yahoo Desktop Search, and MSN Toolbar Suite each have their own set of features and provide quick results. Yahoo's two unique features of being able to search email attachments and preview entire files without opening them directly make it my new search tool of choice.

Links:
Google Desktop Search - http://desktop.google.com
MSN Toolbar Suite - http://desktop.msn.com
Yahoo Desktop Search - http://desktop.yahoo.com