Discussing this developer in no way could be avoided. Only the name Google tells a lot. Whoever has been using online search engines for a few years is very likely to install nothing else but this application on his computer.

Only imagine: Google on your home computer! However, be sure not to catch yourself deceived by the well-known brand. Let us objectively consider the capabilities of the desktop search engine from Google. The first thing that catches the eye is absence of its own program shell. Google Desktop Search is still located in the browser window, thus the whole interface of the desktop version is borrowed from the big brother-internet. Hard to say whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing as some like this minimalism in search engine design while others want to see a full-fledge application filled with various buttons and options.

What’s the first thing that catches the eye after design? It’s the sight of Google Desktop Search indexing literally everything on the computer without ever asking whether that’s what the user wants. What’s more interesting is that the user can’t select the indexing path on his own with the Google Desktop Search. For that you’ll have to download a separate program (TweakGDS) that will let you extend Google Desktop settings, and thus set the disks and folders to be indexed. Although while you get to that the program will have already indexed the whole of your standard Winchester disk, so this feature is only useful when working with big volumes of data, which is relevant in corporate networks (Enterprise type). Although no one will guarantee that your problems will be solved with download of Tweak GDS, as to fully function it needs Microsoft, .NET Framework and Microsoft Scripting Runtime. Google could use some work on the installation and setting up processes, really…although it’s easy to understand the developers too: why write something new when you already have a ready made search engine and you can easily import it to the local computer and let the user “enjoy” while the well-known brand name will take care of the publicity. Well, let’s move on to the search itself.

As for the search query analysis and results, everything is identical to Google online search engine: the same system of display, the same basic set of logical operations for queries. Google Desktop Search is meant exclusively for file search – the inside browser of these files is absent. The number of supported formats is quite sufficient, the search is conducted among the visited web pages (data from cash). The speeds of search and indexing are quite tolerable. For the home use. Google Desktop Search dealt with massive 20 gigabytes of text in 8 hours 17 minutes. Highly doubt that any sysadmin will jump at the prospect of spending a few days on processing the information from the company’s local network. On the bright side: the size of created index managed to keep up (4,5 Gb) with another search engine, tested in this review – SearchInform.

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November 21 SearchInform Technologies Inc. and “SOFTPROM” company will be holding a presentation titled “SearchInform Full Text Search Technology” that will take place in “Nest” business center located in Urickogo street, 45, Kiev.
The presentation will deal with the problems of organizing search in corporate information networks and online. Implementing search technologies to solve an enterprise’s information security problems will also be among the discussed issues. Detailed...

November 3 2006.
SearchInform Technologies Inc. introduces a new version of SearchInform 3.1, a program of full text search and search for documents similar in their content, featuring new interface settings as well as an enhanced and a modified functional. Detailed...
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