Kim
10-25-2004, 09:07 AM
I told you about a new cool tool from Google that indexes
information on your hard drive. The information indexed includes e-mail
that you read through Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer.
It also makes chat sessions, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files easy to
find on your hard drive. I've tried a bunch of desktop search tools
over the years. This one is tops. The Windows search has always been
lame and a huge time-waster.
I believe it's safe for you to install it and use on your home
computer. The information contained on your hard drive is not sent back
to Google. It remains on your hard drive.
Now, there is a downside if you share a computer with someone and don't
use different Windows profiles or accounts to use the system. If you,
for example, forgot a password to a Web site and had it emailed to you,
a copy of that e-mail is accessible to someone using the computer. The
next release of the search tool is supposed to have more privacy
controls. You might want to wait until then to install it.
And wouldn't you know it that the bad guys have found the Google
Desktop Search to be a tool that they can use? I heard from a Kinko's
employee who said that scammers and thieves are installing the Google
program on places like copy shops, Internet cafes and libraries where
you can use public computers. Why? They can go back later and see what
people typed at secure Web sites, in e-mail and in chat sessions.
So, as always, be careful what you do when using a public computer.
Forget doing anything confidential. And if you are using a public
computer, look for a multicolored swirl in the system tray at the lower
right corner of the desktop. That means the Google Desktop search
software is running. Turn it off by right-clicking the swirl.
You can learn more and download Google's Desktop tool here:
http://desktop.google.com
information on your hard drive. The information indexed includes e-mail
that you read through Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer.
It also makes chat sessions, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files easy to
find on your hard drive. I've tried a bunch of desktop search tools
over the years. This one is tops. The Windows search has always been
lame and a huge time-waster.
I believe it's safe for you to install it and use on your home
computer. The information contained on your hard drive is not sent back
to Google. It remains on your hard drive.
Now, there is a downside if you share a computer with someone and don't
use different Windows profiles or accounts to use the system. If you,
for example, forgot a password to a Web site and had it emailed to you,
a copy of that e-mail is accessible to someone using the computer. The
next release of the search tool is supposed to have more privacy
controls. You might want to wait until then to install it.
And wouldn't you know it that the bad guys have found the Google
Desktop Search to be a tool that they can use? I heard from a Kinko's
employee who said that scammers and thieves are installing the Google
program on places like copy shops, Internet cafes and libraries where
you can use public computers. Why? They can go back later and see what
people typed at secure Web sites, in e-mail and in chat sessions.
So, as always, be careful what you do when using a public computer.
Forget doing anything confidential. And if you are using a public
computer, look for a multicolored swirl in the system tray at the lower
right corner of the desktop. That means the Google Desktop search
software is running. Turn it off by right-clicking the swirl.
You can learn more and download Google's Desktop tool here:
http://desktop.google.com