Got Google?

The slickly designed search services, reachable from a clean, intuitive interface are called on constantly. By VARs, by vendors, by customers, by everyone. Oh yes, and they're free. The Google Toolbar, with its pop-up blocker and other perks was a great addition.

The company followed up earlier this year with the freebie gmail, with unlimited message storage. What's not to love about a big honking disk in the sky, reachable from a browser for storing whatever you might need to get at later? At least as a secondary mail account.

Equally impressive is the new Google Desktop. It extends Google's vaunted search to your very own personal hard drive. The integrated search only works with Internet Explorer now, but can a Mozilla/Firefox version be far behind?

The extended search also covers AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) sessions, which gives some pause. The idea of private hard disk data or private chats leaking onto the net is enough to worry anyone. Google swears that personal data is not and will not be collected, but computer users are nothing if not paranoid after rampant viruses, spyware, keyloggers. Last week, The Register raised the possibility of Google mixing private and public searches in the future.

The Google desktop can be downloaded from desktop.google.com.

For old timers frustrated with Windows' slow indexing and search, this is a true God, er Google send. Some long-time journalists (no names need be mentioned) used the late, lamented Lotus Magellan, a nifty but aged DOS file search tool until it just stopped working with new versions of Windows. Google fixed all that.

Google and AIM are the true killer apps right now. AIM is quirky, but people forgive a lot from an application that's free and works.

If you need to stay atop all things Googlian, check out this Watching Google Like A Hawk site.