14 DAY TRIAL // The Google Search option that was included in the Google Desktop for Windows, as its main point, has been downgraded with the latest version of the application released. Except for the fact that it was originally built around it, no longer does it hold the focus point, the other gadgets do.
The search feature enabled by default is limited to looking through the filenames, in order to conduct an even deeper inquiry into the files themselves you have to check the "Enhanced Search" box. That's mighty peculiar, the main reason Google Desktop was built was this enhanced search, now it migrated its importance in the lower list of priorities. This either means that the gadgets in the sidebar have grown in importance and that the search function is no longer so popular that it needs to be ready on the dot, when a user installs the app, or it means a shift in policy from the Mountain View based company to further back Brinn's quote of last year "features, not products".
The description of the application, from when it was launched in October 2004, reads "Google Inc. today announced a beta desktop search application that enables users to search their email, files, web history, and chats. Called Google Desktop Search, this new application makes it possible for users to find information on their computers as fast and easily as they can search the web with Google."
"Google Desktop is a new, easier way to get information - even without searching. You can think of it as a personal web assistant that learns about your habits and interests to identify and present web pages, news stories, and photos that it thinks you will be interested in", explained Marissa Mayer regarding the shift when gadgets were added and the name was changed to Google Desktop.
So, if you're thinking about using it effectively, remember to enable its full potential capacity, else you could as well use the search option that Windows provides.