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Article 22:

Wouldn't it be great if you could search your entire computer for any kind of file and get almost instant results? Well now you can.

Remember the Google internet search engine? In November and December 2003, the Google search engine was discussed in this newsletter (you can read the articles at http://www.upstarts.net if you missed them the first time). Google is still my favorite search engine; it is amazingly easy to use and provides a gateway to many different kinds of information.

Now Google has come out with Google Desktop 2 (henceforth GD2). What does it do? It indexes all the information in your computer and organizes it. You can then use GD2 to locate files, emails, chats, and web pages that you have viewed. And if you decide to use the GD2 Sidebar feature, a narrow vertical slice of your screen will display the latest news headlines, recent mail, photos in your computer, stock quotes and more.

Let me walk you through the download procedure, and then we'll take a closer look at what GD2 has to offer.

Downloading

You can download the Google Desktop at: http://desktop.google.com. (The download is about 1.3 MB and can take anywhere from a few seconds to four minutes depending on the speed of your Internet connection.)

Click the "Agree and Download" button to start the process. Make sure to remember where the download file is saved.

When the download is finished, double-click on the download file and the installation will begin. Once the program is installed, you will see a small Google Desktop icon at the bottom of your screen .

Indexing

Google desktop will now prepare an index of all the files in your computer. This is a one-time process. If there are some files that you wish to keep confidential, that is, files that you do NOT wish to be included in the overall index, you'll be given that option.

The indexing process takes place when you're not using your computer, so you may need to leave it on for some time to allow Google to complete the index (I left mine on overnight). If, however, you need to turn off your computer before the indexing is complete, don't worry. The next time you open up your computer, the indexing will pick up from where it left off.

Using the Google Deskbar

The program is installed, the index is complete – let's see what you can do with GD2.

  1. Right click the GD2 icon – and a shortcut menu appears:
  2. In the middle section of the menu, you are offered possible ways to display the Google desktop. If you click Deskbar, or Floating Deskbar, you will have a stationary or movable Google search box on your screen, looking something like this:

With this option, you can perform a Google search simply by typing a search term in the box.

Searching your computer and the web with the Deskbar

Type a few letters (for instance, 'jeru' for Jerusalem) and see the search results that instantly come up. On my computer, the little deskbar search result screen (which shows items stored in my computer) displays: 2 emails, a picture, and 3 websites that mentioned Jerusalem.

Now press the Enter key. Now the browser opens up – listing both the results stored on my computer, as well as a Google search of the web (see image below).

Using the Google Sidebar

If you choose Sidebar, a narrow bar of boxes offering a large variety of information will appear on the side of your screen: it will look something like this:

 

Notice that the sidebar has nine different sections: Email, Photos, News, Web Clips, Scratch Pad, Quick View, What's Hot, Weather, and Stocks (not necessarily in this order, as the panels can be dragged to suit your personal preference).

 

What can you find in each section?

E-mail: Your latest emails

Photos: A slide show of photos taken from your computer and selected web sites.

News: The latest news headlines; you can "train" the program to show you the headlines that most interest you.

Web Clips: Clips from blogs, news sites, and other online sources.

Scratch Pad: Your own notes that are saved as soon as you type them

Quick View: Easy access to your frequently used web sites and files

What's Hot: a selection of what is popular on the web

Weather: Weather reports, in Fahrenheit or Celsius, for multiple locations of your choice (only in the United States).

Stocks: Stock prices displayed in real-time, and for the indices and individual stocks of your choice.

Notice that the Google search box is at the bottom of the sidebar.

 

 

 

 

 

Picking and choosing

It's nice to know that all this information is available, but what if some of it is just not relevant to you? For instance, I never check the stock market, and since the weather panel only checks weather in the United States (at least for now), these panels serve no purpose for me. How can I remove some panels?

  1. Look at the top of the sidebar, where you see the Google logo.

      Click the upside down triangle.

    The Panels & Alerts window opens.
  2. Put a check in the boxes next to the names of the panels that interest you, leaving others blank.
  3. Once you click OK, the sidebar will readjust to show only those panels. Naturally, you can always change your mind and make new choices as often as you wish.

How to work with the Sidebar

Every panel has a title bar which announces the function of the panel and also gives access to a sub panel and panel menu. Look at the Email panel example below:

The menu

Use the menu button to minimize the panel, remove it completely, or change it in some way. You can also learn more about the panel by choosing the About option.

The sub-panel

A sub-panel is a window that pops out from the main panel and gives additional information. For instance, if you click the sub-panel arrows in the News panel, you will see a longer list of headlines in the News sub-panel.

Getting the most out of the sidebar

Here are some basic instructions for working with the panels in the Sidebar:

Single-click

If you single-click an item in a panel, a little sub-panel opens up and shows you the contents of the item.

In the example below, clicking the headline in the News panel (1), opens a subpanel showing the beginning of the article (2). Click the X in the right corner of the sub panel to close it.(3)

Double-click

If you double click an item in the panel, it will open the appropriate application (a browser like Explorer or Firefox, an email program like Gmail, Outlook Express, Outlook, etc.) and you can read the entire article, email letter etc.

Removing

You can delete an item in any panel by right-clicking it (1), and clicking the Remove button (2).

Removing an item in the sidebar (like an email listing, for instance) ONLY removes it from the sidebar. It will still appear in your email program or browser if you look for it there.

"Training" the News panel

You can train the News panel to offer you only the headlines that you are interested in.

  1. Right click a headline that does not interest you (for instance, I have no interest in sports so I right-clicked "NL East tightest division").
  2. When the menu opens, instead of choosing Open which would show me the entire article, I choose "don't show me items like this".

 

 

 

 

 

After doing this a few times with other sports headlines as well, the program filters out sports headlines and offers other news.

 

 

Using the Scratch Pad

The one exception to the above rules is the Scratch Pad panel, which is simply a note pad.

  1. Jot down notes on the pad, and they are saved automatically.
  2. To delete a note, just select it with your mouse (click and drag over the words), and press the delete key on your keyboard.

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