Summary

In this chapter, you learned to install and configure the Google Desktop. This powerful tool indexes the files found on your computer, or other computers located across a network.

The Google Desktop software also serves as a container for other small programs called gadgets and plugins. These useful programs provide functionality that ranges from displaying an analog desktop clock to gathering information using RSS and Atom feeds. Google Gadgets are covered in much greater detail in Chapter 29.

Managing how Google Desktop indexes the files on your computer can bring about peace of mind while allowing quick access to the important information stored on your computer. As hard drives become larger and the number of applications increase, information can be more difficult to find as it is often stored in hundreds of formats and located in thousands of places. Google excels at finding distributed information. Finding your files is almost as useful as finding your way using Google Maps, covered in the next chapter.