I've now taken a test drive on each of these new (Beta) offerings. Surprisingly, the MSN Desktop Search tool is far better than the Google Desktop Search.

Some of the reasons why I am ranking MSN Desktop Search above Google Desktop Search:

• More control/configurability/options in MSN Desktop Search.
• Mre reliable searches. Google's was failing to find most of my documents even after having been installed and indexing my system for a week! For example, I could pick a directory, look for a group of files with a common keyword, search on that keyword in Google desktop, and only get one out of ten files returned in the search. That's horrible! MSN indexes quicker, and finds 100% of the files on my system.
• MSN Desktop Search has better options for refined search queries.
• The search result formatting is more useful in MSN Desktop Search.
• I've noticed no impact on my system performance, and the searches are lightning fast.
• I also prefer the MSN "Deskbar".
• The MSN Desktop Indexing Service a snap to manage, because it gives you more control over what and when it indexes.
• You can monitor indexing status in real-time.

Woah, I can't believe I've been missing out on Blogger. I mean, I haven't been living under a rock -- I knew about it. I read Blogger blogs all the time. And I do use w.Blogger to blog to both Drupal and e-Xoops. I just always assume that any free service is usually not such a good deal. (I'd love to link to some good examples of bad deals, but I refuse to increase their page rank).

Well, as usual, I've found another way to be wrong. It's not to surprising; both that I'm wrong again and that there are free things that are really good deals. I mean, my favorite applications are free, and they hold their own against any software one could purchase. When you think about, the most phenomenal service that has totally changed my life is a free service. (Oh, I could have put a lot of really bad jokes into that last link!)

Google has brought us yet another promising solution to sort through the data which never ceases to amass in our lives. This time Google intends to deploy their technology to your own computer. This might be nice as an alternative to the Microsoft Indexing service and the Windows Find feature. Google Desktop looks as though it may be feature rich, and it includes controls for constraining what it will index.

Just to cut you off at the pass about what you're wondering: the software does not share your computer's information with Google or anyone else. It keeps the index local, chewing up approximately 500MB of your hard drive, according to Google.

You should consult The Book of All Knowing, Google. You should set Google as your home page. You should consult Google whenever you are not knowing, because Google knows. Mastering Google is easy! Simply follow the step-by-step walk-through of GoogleGuide.com.

If you can't find it in Google, you should see if somebody else has already asked Google. If you need to know a definition, type the word in Google, then look at the top, right corner of the page where it says definition in blue lettering in the blue horizontal bar near the top of the page. Click that link and it will lead you to Dictionary.com with a definition of your word or acronym. I use these techniques constantly every day and am so successful with them that other people are consistently fooled into thinking that I am smart and know things and stuff. (sic)

A new plug-in has been released that installs quickly and adds an option to search Drupal from Firefox's built in search field (to the right of the URL field). Very useful if you're a Drupal user or developer.

Unfortunately, the site owner appears to have taken the page down which linked to these files. However, the files can still be downloaded at these links:

• Source file
• Drupal icon

Drop the two files into your Firefox\searchplugins directory, restart Firefox, and you're all set to go.