Google Inc. (www.google.com) announced the formal launch of Google Desktop Search. The free downloadable application enables users to search for information on their own computers.
In addition to searching a wide range of computer files and email, Google is the first desktop search tool to access the full text of web page history and the only one to search AOL instant messages.
"Google Desktop Search brings the power of Google search to information on the computer hard drive," said Jonathan Rosenberg, vice president of Product Management at Google.
Previously in beta, today's 1.0 release adds search over the full text of PDFs and the meta-information stored with music, image and video files.
Additional enhancements include support for the Firefox and Netscape browsers, Thunderbird and Netscape email clients and new Chinese and Korean language interfaces.
Google Desktop Search can also be used to recover accidentally deleted or misplaced information. For instance, a user who unintentionally deletes a Word document or PowerPoint presentation can use the tool to find the text stored in Google Desktop Search.
All results are accompanied by cached snapshots of each web page and document so users can access information even if they're not connected to the web or if a document has been deleted.
Google Desktop Search will also provide application programming interfaces (APIs) that enable software developers to create new and innovative applications using the desktop search product.
Plug-ins developed with these APIs will be made available for download at http://desktop.google.com/plugins.
Additional enhancements to Google Desktop 1.0 include a free-standing search box that users can place anywhere on their desktop; making access to desktop and web information faster and easier than before.
Google Desktop Search is available at http://desktop.google.com. It is currently available for Windows XP and Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and above.