File-sorting software coming of age
The holidays are done at last. Time to get back to normal. Well, perhaps not entirely normal. Our computers, after all, are normally in a state of chaos, cluttered with once-cherished files that we can't even find anymore.
This year we can get our hard drives in order, if nothing else. Unlike our other New Year's resolutions, this one does not involve much willpower -- just the self-discipline needed to download and install one of the new desktop search programs.
These programs index your hard drive the way an Internet search engine indexes the Web, so you can find old e-mails or digital photos in seconds. A year ago, you could hardly lay hands on good file-sorting software. But in the past 12 months, at least five companies have introduced desktop search tools that are free for the downloading.
The top Internet search service, Google, started the desktop search craze almost by accident. It was a good year for Google -- $2 billion in revenue for the first nine months of the year, and the most successful stock offering by a tech company since the good old 1990s. That's good for Google, but what about poor Microsoft Corp.? We all know how badly Microsoft needs money.
Sure enough, Microsoft spent the year tuning up its own Internet search strategy -- and talking it up, too. The company promised powerful new technologies that would put Google's in the shade, including a new program to let users of Microsoft Windows easily search their hard drives.
That threw other search companies into a panic. They remembered how Microsoft had used its Web browser to destroy rival Web software companies. It looked like a rerun -- build desktop search into Windows, link it to a good Internet search tool, and soon, who needs Google or Yahoo?
It won't be so simple this time, because the Internet search companies replied with desktop tools of their own. The first to fight was the second-tier search company Terra Lycos, which runs the HotBot search engine. In the spring, the company unveiled HotBot Desktop Edition, which runs as a toolbar inside Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. The software does HotBot Web searches, but also generates an index of your computer's files, including e-mails and documents, along with a record of the websites you've visited.
But the interface lacks elegance. Your search results appear in a cramped window to the left of the main browser screen. You can't easily search different file types. For instance, HotBot indexes e-mails, documents, and previously visited Web pages. But you must run separate searches for each, rather than viewing all results in a single window.
Worst of all, HotBot Desktop Edition works only with the Microsoft browser. What were they thinking?
Google doesn't make that mistake in the test version of its desktop search tool. It runs on any old browser. Indeed, it takes over the whole browser. Google Desktop Search installs a miniature Web server on your computer, so search results look just like the kind you get from a Google Web search.
You can set Google Desktop Search as your home page. It looks like the standard Google page, except for an extra "Search Desktop" button. Press it for a detailed search of your own files. Unlike HotBot, Google searches all of its indexes at once. It will find every related e-mail, website, or document. Google even throws in a feature that indexes your instant messaging chats. To run the same search in Google's online index, don't open a separate browser window -- just click on "Web." Even then, the top of the page will show search results from your local hard drive.
This is good stuff, but far from perfect. Thanks to its built-in Web server, Google Desktop Search is incompatible with some computer security programs. Speaking of security, experts have found flaws in an early version that could allow online thieves to steal information from a user's machine. And like HotBot, Google Desktop Search won't index many popular file types -- music files, digital photos, videos.
Microsoft's is better. Introduced in a test version last month, MSN Desktop Search indexes stuff that Google doesn't touch -- it even indexes the programs on your hard drive. Like Google, MSN Desktop Search runs inside a browser -- Microsoft's, of course -- and you can go from local to Internet searching with a mouse click. Microsoft also provides a deskbar window for running quick searches.
Who knew that Microsoft could write such snappy code? As soon as you start typing a desktop search, results begin to appear in the deskbar window. That makes MSN Desktop Search exceptionally fast.
Can't bear to use something from Microsoft? Consider two worthy alternatives.
Blinkx, the San Francisco company that just introduced a video search service at www.blinkx.tv, also has a free desktop search program. It runs inside its own window, rather than in a browser, but that doesn't seem to matter. It quickly displays stored e-mail, photos, music, and documents. The same program will pop open a browser and run your searches online, but be warned that the Blinkx search service isn't nearly as comprehensive as Google's.
The most comprehensive and powerful desktop search tool comes from Copernic Technologies Inc., a Canadian firm with US headquarters in Newton. Copernic Desktop Search is even faster than Microsoft's, and with extra features that allow for ultra-granular searches. Say you want to search old e-mails by subject line and date. Now you can, but not with Google or Microsoft desktop search tools -- only with Copernic.
A year ago, none of these programs were available; now we have five, with more to come. Ask Jeeves has just brought out a desktop search program, and Yahoo's is expected before the first robin of spring.
You'll be able to straighten out your computer this year, even if your life remains as chaotic as ever.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.
