Making your data even more accessible

Desktop search applications are software that searches the contents of your own computer files, rather than searching the Internet.

Desktop search software gives emphasis on data mining all information that is available on the user's PC, including web browser histories, e-mail archives, word-processor documents, and so on. One of the main advantages of Desktop Search programs is that search results come up in a few seconds. For home users, it means faster access to everything stored on the computer. For business users, it means added productivity and simplifying the workday.

The popularity of the desktop search software has been increasing tremendously in the recent years, with all of the major players in online searching releasing their desktop search software. Users who've been using desktop search software find them indispensable now.

But which offering is the best? Here we take a look at some of the most popular desktop search tools out there.

Google Desktop Search
Google's desktop search software has been around for a while and it's quite popular. The software indexes all documents, web-pages, emails from Outlook, a wide variety of data files, from Word to PDF to videos and more. The search is very convenient to access too, just press Ctrl twice and a Quick Search Box pops up. When you type in your query, it searches and instantly shows results. Google Desktop Search is particularly useful for finding a file, email, bookmark, or browser cache based on the file contents. It indexes relatively quickly, and displays results in your browser in that familiar Google-search style. It's also pretty accurate most of the times.

The company recently released the version 4 of the software which adds a nifty sidebar tool, the likes of which Microsoft promised in Windows Vista. The sidebar gives users one-stop access to all kind of fun stuff, like email, weather, games, a note pad, and more. The software is available for download for free at desktop.google.com

Yahoo! Desktop Search
Yahoo's desktop search software is capable for some serious file searching. Like Google's Desktop Search, it searches all the documents, saved web-pages and emails. It also searches music and images, in addition to more than three-hundred file types and even searches inside compressed or .zip achieves.

Unlike Google, Yahoo! Desktop Search does not display results in search engine results like manner in your web browser. This program has its own interface and its own window. It has an easy to use column-based sorting system that can be used to filter searches by name, size, date, and path. It's also easy to use the field-based filtering to further refine your search. The software also has a nice 'instant preview' feature, similar to Google's quick search, which is nice for fast typers. It's available for free at desktop.yahoo.com

It's not all good news, though. The software doesn't shine so brightly when it comes to performance: it's a huge memory hog and it doesn't index files frequently enough for some users.

Copernic
Copernic is an extremely strong desktop search application that indexes files literally as soon as they are stored and lets you preview files in a separate preview window. It's also notably faster than Google and Yahoo's similar software. And because it keeps on cataloguing files, you'll find newly created documents and files on Copernic's index faster than on software from its competitors.

Also, if you prefer to tag the files and folders with keywords yourself, Copernic does a great job of separating out your searches according to keyword and category.

Copernic never stops indexing files and that could lead to a possible overload problem eventually. But it can be turned off when needed. Copernic also doesn't work on older versions of Windows either -- only Windows XP/2000/NT is supported. Copernic is available for download at copernic.com

Ask
Ask Jeeves Desktop Search is a small application (some 750K), but is nevertheless able to search your hard drive for documents, e-mails and various text, image, music and video files just like the other desktop search engines. The technology is based on a desktop search tool developed by Tukaroo, a company Ask Jeeves bought in June 2004.

This desktop tool gives users more control over the software than some of the competitors. Hence users can define how much of their hard disk they want indexed, as how much processor power should be allotted to this task. Ask Desktop Search gives you the option to view your desktop search results within your browser or in the interface, which is a nice feature. You can also use Ask Desktop Search from within almost any application on your computer; for example, if you open up Word and can't remember where you pasted a quote, you can use Ask Desktop Search within Word to find it. You can also preview your files within the Ask.com application interface. Ask Desktop Search is available at sp.ask.com/ en/ docs/desktop/overview.shtml

MSN
One of the most interesting features of MSN Desktop Search is the fact that you can pick and choose what you would like it to index. Plus, it comes bundled with the MSN Search Toolbar, which has all sorts of handy features such as tabbed browsing, an automatic form filler-inner, and a pop-up blocker. MSN Desktop Search can index more than 200 different file types.

The new MSN suite also includes a pop-up blocker and an automatic form fill feature that remembers often used personal information. Like the Google toolbar, the MSN Toolbar Suite includes a 'highlighter' that colours the relevant keywords on the web results pages. MSN Desktop Search is available for free download at desktop.msn.com

And these aren't all. There are dozens of software out there aiming to make your data even more accessible to you. Interested? Hear over to Wikipedia for more information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_search

The desktop search tools are immensely useful and they take the user's pain and frustration of not being able to find what the he is looking for. That being said, we sincerely hope that the next version of Windows, Vista, will include with a fast, thorough desktop search, rendering most of these applications obsolete.