Google released their desktop search tool out of beta this week - so it's the full mean deal now. They've added support to search even more content (including Thunderbird email yay!) and for people who want even more, there are plugins available that will let the application index even more kinds of content so you can search almost anything you like. And if there's not a plugin available, well then write one!

Google Desktop Search: Get it here.

If you're a person who gets confused when looking at search results because the results from your desktop (local computer) search are listed on the page with your Google web search results (or if you just want to separate them), here you go:

The default behavior for Google's Desktop Search is: "Show Desktop Search results on Google Web Search result pages." But you can disable that if its confusing. Just right click on Google Desktop Search icon in the system notification area, then choose "More" then choose "Preferences." It's on that page, just scroll down and find the option and uncheck the box.