Google Desktop 5.7.0805.16405

Publisher's description of Google Desktop

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Google Desktop will offer full text search over your email, computer files, chats, and the web pages you've viewed. By making your computer searchable, it puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files, emails, and bookmarks. It introduces new ways to access relevant and timely information. When you view a web page in Internet Explorer, it caches or stores its content so that you can later look at that same version of the page, even if its live content has changed or you're offline. It organizes email search results into conversations, so that all email messages in the same thread are grouped into a single search result.

Version 5.7.0805.16405 fixes many issues with proxy authentication and PDFtoText.exe downloads, improves memory utilitization, improves gadget preferences, and includes other fixes and new features.

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Editor's review of Google Desktop

Simple, small, and free, Google Desktop indexes your hard drive the way Google's own servers index the Web. Your search results are returned in a Web-page format that looks very similar to the Google Web site. The application's sidebar regularly updates the status of your e-mail, photos, RSS feeds, and weather.

Although the initial indexing period can crawl--especially if you have a lot of e-mail, contacts, chat transcripts, and documents for it to parse through--it's well worth the wait to be able to search any of them from a text entry box that's installed next to the Quick Launch bar. You'll still find the same basic gadget content: a music player, sports and stock tickers, a file shredder, and wackier items like an interactive plant. We like the Desktop sidebar's built-in to-do list, notepad, and the capability to integrate other gadgets with ease.

Version 5 is fully compatible with Windows Vista, emulating the rounded corners and translucent panels and capable of overriding the native Vista sidebar. There's also cross-indexing for multiple machines and sharing panel items directly with friends. The sharpest new feature is the preview window for search results, which saves a lot of time on clicking, opening, and closing.

Other programs with lighter feature sets may 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 quite decorated cap.

User reviews of Google Desktop

• Average user rating: out of 267 votes
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  Google Desktop

  AMAZING SIDEBAR

  by: Sakura Kiss on 10-Jun-2008 06:47:07 PM

  Pros: there are hundreds of useful gadgets to choose from in this little sidebar! it's light on the desktop and i can say it is better than vista sidebar 10 folds

  Cons: none so far

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  Google Desktop

  slows down your computer

  by: soft.reviewer on 23-Jul-2008 12:55:23 AM

  Pros: nothing

  Cons: slows down your computer to almost a halt.

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  Google Desktop

  nice but.. sooo slooooww

  by: spaced77 on 13-Aug-2008 08:23:11 PM

  Pros: nice but.. sooo slooooww

  Cons: nice but.. sooo slooooww

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  Google Desktop

  If you don,t have a dual -core processor and some seriosMb,s it6,s not 4 you

  by: rudster2005 on 13-Aug-2008 11:49:01 AM

  Pros: It has everything you need rather then seaching all over the interent

  Cons: Power drainer,if you don,t have Vista or xp with a serious upgrade in mb,s and a dual core forget it you will feel like your back on the old aol dial-up when it said ( you have mail) remember that back in the day!

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  Google Desktop

  GOOGLE MAN!!!

  by: SindhiBoss on 13-Aug-2008 09:54:29 AM

  Pros: Quite amazing no more worrying about if u cant find a file just go to google desktop and type it in and den bammmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!! u got it

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