I’m pretty organized – when it comes to business, anyway.  My friends are quick to tease me if we’re talking about analyzing some issue by saying, “I’m sure you’ll be creating a spreadsheet about this!”

And, I usually do!

But, the problem I have is that I very often forget where I put all the stuff I have on the computer.  And, the search function in Windows Explorer is pitiful.  So, this isn’t really real estate related, but if you haven’t tried Google Desktop, I suggest you give it a shot.

Google Desktop lets you view things like news and photos on your desktop, and it lets you use Google Widgets on the sidebar and to customize your desktop.  And, those functions are very nice, I’m sure, but I don’t use them.

For me, the real gem of the Desktop is the fact that you can search your own computer in ways you’ve only dreamt about before.  Imagine being able to search your computer for any word or string of words you can think of that may be in the filename or content of that great article you saved a year or so ago. 

The article that was either something you copied and saved to a Word file, or maybe you e-mailed it to a friend, or was it just something you saw on a web page while you were surfing the Internet?  Never fear, the Google search will find it, wherever it’s hiding!

By the time you’re finished typing the search phrase into the search bar, Google has already found every occurence of the phrase.  Then, you can open the results in a browser window, where Google lets you look at all the results, or select either all the files, e-mails, or web history entries.

It’s saved me uncounted hours plodding around my hard drive and Outlook Express folders trying to remember where I put something.  And, it’s very compact.  You can cause the desktop to appear as a sidebar on your screen.  But, if you just want to use the search feature, you can minimize the sidebar and you end up with this:

That’s a life-size version.  It sits quietly at the very top of your screen, without obliterating anything, until you need it.  I did have some issues with letting Google onto my computer.  I carefully read the privacy policy concerning the Desktop software, and they say that the information on your computer never leaves your computer.  I believe that - if for no other reason than I can’t imagine what they’d do with a directory of all the contents of all the computers of all the users who have installed the Desktop.

So, if you’re still looking for that excellent joke a friend e-mailed to you last year, install the Google Desktop and get ready for a good belly laugh!