In This Chapter

You use the Google website to search the Web, but you need to find a lot of information on your own computer as well. So why can’t you use Google to search your hard disk?

Well, you can, thanks to the Google Desktop software program. Google Desktop installs on your PC and automatically indexes all your data files, email messages, and the like. When you conduct a Google Desktop search, the program searches this index and returns a list of matching files and messages. It’s just as easy as using the Google website, and it lets you find all those “lost” documents that are buried somewhere on your hard disk.

As an added bonus, Google Desktop includes a sidebar that sits on your computer desktop and provides access to different content modules (called gadgets—just like the iGoogle gadgets you learned about in the preceding chapter). Assuming that you have the available desktop real estate, the Google Desktop sidebar lets you view your Gmail inbox, the latest news, local weather conditions, your instant-messaging contacts, and lots, lots more, all stacked together on the edge of your computer screen.

I’m not sure what’s best about Google Desktop, the local searching or the sidebar content. They’re both really cool and very useful, so read on to learn more.