How to find almost anything on your Windows computer in less time than it took you to read this

1. I know it’s in here somewhere. How to find almost anything on your Windows computer in less time than it took you to read this slide © 2010 Marcia Riefer Johnston [email_address]

2. What’s a desktop search engine? A search engine that helps you find files on your… … desktop? … whole computer and attached or mapped drives

3. What are some examples? Dozens more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines#Desktop_search_engines Windows Search Google Desktop

4. What do they do? They “make searching your computer as easy as searching the web.” http://desktop.google.com/features.html “ The closest I'll get to a search engine for my brain." http://desktop.google.com/testimonials.html

5. Who needs them? Not you … if you always instantly find what you’re looking for.

6. How do they find things so quickly? They index (comb through) your files when your system is idle. Windows Search running in the background Google Desktop running in the background

7. What can they find? Files & folders A gazillion file types – full text indexing of each document (not just the file name). E-mail Outlook and Outlook Express. Files & folders Ditto + search deleted (cached) files to retrieve “lost” text. E-mail Ditto + search other e-mail clients . Web history Search viewed (cached) web pages , even when you’re offline. Windows Search Google Desktop

8. How does Google Desktop work? Your search returns appear. cp50 Enter text.

9. It brings up previews of image files.

10. What are these gazillion file types that it finds?

12. Testimonial “ At a meeting, I took notes in Notepad. When I re-docked my laptop, every change in the Notepad file was gone – vanished. I have never seen this behavior before. I was able to locate the files with the changes quickly using the Google tool. The sinking feeling turned to joy .”

13. How easy is it to narrow a search?

14. How do I get Google Desktop? http://desktop.google.com

17. What do search results look like for Lotus Notes items? Windows Search Google Desktop for Enterprise

20. What are the drawbacks to desktop search engines? Indexing slows some computers down. Index takes up space. Can’t do wildcard searches (which catch typos). Can’t preview EPS files. partia*

21. Takeaway: Powerful search tools are out there. This could be you instantly finding the item you’re looking for.