- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows XP, Windows 2000
- Date added: February 09, 2006
- Total Downloads: 332,208
- Downloads last week: 770
- See full specifications
A newer version of Google Desktop is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 334 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
Simple, small, and free, Google Desktop indexes your hard drive the way the company's own servers index the World Wide Web. Your search results are returned in a Web-page format that looks very similar to the Google Web site. This application offers some excellent features and searches the most important documents and locations, including local Microsoft Office files, PDFs, archived files, e-mail messages, chat transcripts, and the Web browser cache. You also can download or develop plug-ins for searching other types of documents and customizing the display of search results. Like other local-search products, the Google Desktop installs an indexing engine on your computer that runs whenever your PC is idle. Once the index is built, search results return blazingly quick.
Version 3 adds the ability to save indexes from multiple machines centrally so that you can run remote desktop searches across all your PCs. Also, you can now drag the Sidebar around the screen and share panel items directly with friends. The Web-based interface will be second nature to Google regulars, but we're not yet convinced it's the best way to scan local search results. Other programs with lighter feature sets offer quicker and easier indexing and searching. Nevertheless, the efficient and feature-rich Google Desktop Search stands as yet another feather in the company's cap.
Watch the CNET video review of Google Desktop:
Publisher's description
From Google :Instantly find your e-mail, files, media, Web history, and chats. By making your computer searchable, Google Desktop Search puts your information easily within your reach. It frees you from having to manually organize your files, e-mail, and Web pages you've viewed. Version 3 lets you search for files across all your computers and share info with friends directly from the Sidebar.
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User reviews of Google Desktop 3
- Average user rating: 3.3 stars out of 334 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 31 user reviewsSee all 31 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
3 out of 8 people found this review helpful
Version: Google Desktop 3
"Good program, this product pleased to me."
Pros: Very comfortable program.
Very interestingly.Useful product.
Good interface
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33 out of 55 people found this review helpful
Version: Google Desktop 3
"LARGE Privacy Risk - A VERY Bad Idea"
Pros: convenient for hackers and Government
Cons: excerpted from Electronic Frontier Foundation article @ eff(dot)org
Google Copies Your Hard Drive - Government Smiles in Anticipation
Consumers Should Not Use New Google Desktop
San Francisco - Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password.
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13 out of 17 people found this review helpful
Version: Google Desktop 3
Pros: It's convenient
Cons: Unlike previous versions that just index files on your harddrive, this version actually uploads copies of certain file types to Google's servers. If ones not very careful sensitive information could be leaked.
eff.org/news/archives/2006_02.php#004400
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13 out of 16 people found this review helpful
Version: Google Desktop 3
"Grate, with nice new features, but poses small security risk."
Pros: Even if you aren't looking for a desktop search program, this program is still great. The sidebar is awesome, and now with the option to move panels out of the sidebar, it is feeling a lot more open. The fact that you can search on multiple computers, share panels, and create your own is great.
Cons: Because searching on multiple computers requires you to upload your index to the Google servers, there is an obvious security risk here.
Luckily, however, you can turn the feature off (which I recommend - for now.)
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0 out of 3 people found this review helpful
Version: Google Desktop 3
Pros: Cool soft
Cons: The UI is a bit 'heavy'.
- See all 31 user reviews Write review
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