In announcing the new tool, Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president of products, said: "It's free, installs quickly, and keeps completely up-to-date. Google Desktop Search represents a quantum leap in access to your own information."

Google makes a pretty bold claim for its capabilities—"Desktop Search is how our brains would work if we had photographic memories." In a sense, it could actually foster disorganization, if users come to rely on it. In a FAQ, the company says: "Since you can easily search information on your computer, you don't need to worry about organizing your files, e-mail, or bookmarks."

After downloading and installing Desktop Search, the program immediately begins creating a searchable index of the files, e-mail, and Web pages on your hard drive. The index is stored on the user's PC and is not sent to Google. Users can get to Desktop Search either by clicking the icon in the Windows taskbar or clicking the Desktop link above the search box on Google's homepage. Users can opt to search just their own index, Google's Web index, or both (when searching from Google).

There are limitations—remember, this is still in beta. At this point Desktop Search works only with Windows OS, not Macintosh, and only with Internet Explorer 5.0+, not with browsers like Opera or Mozilla. It doesn't index Google's own e-mail, Gmail. It doesn't (yet) work with the Google Deskbar, which is also still in beta. It can't search the content of PDF files, just the file names. It doesn't search folder names, only file names. Its index takes a chunk of a user's hard drive real estate (Google says users need 1 gigabyte of space), and creating it can take a long time. (One reviewer said it had been indexing e-mail for 4 days, and it still was not completed.) Serious users will certainly wish for more personalized controls and advanced search features, including date and location (directory or folder) restrictions. At this point it doesn't support partial word searches.

"Valuable yet creepy" is how one reporter described the new Desktop Search, which will find what some do not want to be found, such as deleted e-mail and files, or private chat messages. Potential users should read the privacy notice and watch for preference options during the install process.

Some reviewers pointed out the potential for using the application as a spy tool, maybe to monitor what your kids, spouse, or co-workers are doing. If you share a PC or use a public access machine—at a library or Internet cafe—watch for a multicolored swirl in the system tray at the lower right corner of the computer desktop. It means the software is running. You can disable it. Basically, it should not be used on public computers or shared PCs.

Analysts from Outsell pointed out: "The tool has the same strengths and weaknesses of Google in general: It's great for needle-in-the-haystack searches, but less useful for general searches that bring back loads of results without presenting them in a meaningful way."

Search gurus Danny Sullivan and Gary Price both love Desktop Search, although they already have wish lists for improvements. Writing in SearchDay, Sullivan concluded: "For those who have no desktop search at all, this product is a great start down that road. It will be a major improvement for them—and another thing that will tie some closer to Google."

Earlier this year, Microsoft acquired Lookout Software, makers of a personal Microsoft Outlook 2003 search tool. Microsoft, AOL, Ask Jeeves, and a number of other companies are all said to be working on desktop search tools. Yahoo! will probably not be long in introducing one. It has just acquired Stata Labs, which offers Bloomba, a product that lets people search and organize their e-mail and attachments.

There's no question that Google Desktop Search offers great improvements over using the current search functionality in Windows. As technologist Rich Wiggins commented to me, "One of the great ironies of the PC revolution is how hard it is to find things on your own computer."

While Desktop Search will likely prove quite popular with individual PC users, those needing more of a business-level application have options like X1, dtSearch, and Copernic, which all offer both enterprise and desktop search products. Another company, ISYS Search Software (http://www.isys-search.com) offers ISYS:desktop, which is network-ready, offers advanced query capabilities, and supports more than 125 file formats and 30 languages. (Google's desktop only supports English and about 10 file formats at this time.)

The Google Desktop Search application is clearly an important component in Google's overall domination of users' PC tools—it now has Web search, desktop search, its own e-mail (Gmail), blogging software (Blogger), and photo management (Picasa). The bottom line is that Google is on a steady course to become ever-more indispensable to users—in line with its stated mission to provide access to the world's information.