The OneMinute Geek

The Problem:

More than half the battle in being productive is often just being organized. It doesn’t matter whether you're looking for a sock, last year's tax returns, or that memo from the boss. If you find it quickly you've freed up time you can use to accomplish other tasks.

What about organization on your computer? Locating files on your computer can be a real challenge especially if you’re like me and still have 2000 unorganized emails that you’ve been saving since November! How can you keep files on your computer better organized, or at least manage to quickly retrieve any files that you need?

The Solution:

You need a way to search your desktop. Desktop search functions are not new. You may have read about the recent release of Google’s desktop searching software. Like Google, all the major players, including America Online, Microsoft and Ask Jeeves, are working on the promised next-big-thing in desktop search functions.

The recently released Google Desktop software searches your computer just like it browses the Internet. It not only sorts through your PC's files and instantly ferrets out Microsoft Office files, text files and emails in Outlook and Outlook Express, it also locates AOL Instant Messenger chats and web pages you've previously visited.

The Google beta download is free and is available at desktop.google.com.

To use Google Desktop, you will need Windows XP or Windows 2000 (SP3 or above), at least 500 megabytes of hard-drive space and a minimum 128 megabytes of RAM and a 400MHz Pentium processor or better. The software works best with Microsoft's Internet Explorer and has only limited functions with other browsers like Firefox, Mozilla and Opera. It also will not search networked drives, Gmail, Adobe Acrobat or other popular file formats.

Once installed, Google Desktop creates a massive index (think card catalogue) of your files so it can reference information quickly. You can use the search function to scan just your computer, or if connected to the Internet, you can use Google's site to simultaneously search both the Internet and your computer's new catalogue.

Since beta means the product isn’t final, you may want to consider some of the issues associated with beta testing. For example, as you can imagine, there are some legitimate concerns about privacy. Conceivably, the software could be used by other people to locate personal files while sitting at your computer, though Google does permit users to exclude specific items from the search index.

To quell these concerns about privacy, Google is saying they will not require users to register any information with them nor will they attempt to mine your personal files or browsing habits. My recommendation: If you're in need of a desktop search function, download Google Desktop and take it for a spin. If you're concerned about the privacy and beta issues, you may just want to hold off on using it and live with what you've got until security and privacy issues are more fully addressed.

James Kerr is President/CEO of SuperGeeks, a Hawaii-based computer service and repair company (www.supergeeks.net). Please feel free to send your questions, comments and suggestions to Mr. Kerr. He can be reached at kerr@supergeeks.net and 942-0773.