Most desktop search applications are advertised as “time savers” as they don’t require to open a browser which is not true actually because they still open a browser after you hit “search”. So that’s not the reason I’d use them. Instead, I’d take a look at other features the tools offer.
These additional features may include quicker access to search operators or combining several search engines, etc. So here’s a quick overview of desktop Google search tools that offer some extra goodies as well:
| Google desktop search tool | Cost | Accessed via | Main search options |
| Google Desktop | Free | Google Web + Google Desktop | Search field in the taskbar |
| Google-SearchTool | Free | Google services + Advanced operators | Icon in your task bar |
| Desktop Search Bar | $14.95 | Google services + Other search engines | Pop-up on mouse-over |
| SearchIt in Google | Free | Google Web + Google Desktop | Icon in your task bar |
Google Desktop
By default, Google desktop searches the web and your computer. What’s more, it:
- Shows desktop search results as you type;
- Allows to exclude any domain from your search results (think Wiki!);
- Has plenty of non-search features.
Google-SearchTool
- Multiple Google services support (Web search, Google groups, Google images, Google news)
- Advanced search operators (links:, related:, cache:, info:, etc)
More settings:
- Set SafeSearch filter,
- Set number of results per page
- Exact match search;
- Language preferences.
Note: by default the tool opens Internet Explorer to search. To switch to the browser you are using, you will need to enable custom browser. When you enable this option a “popup” asks a name for your custom browser. After that a Filepopup should appear, browse to the folder/directory of the custom browser and pick out the browsers startup executable.
Desktop Search Bar
(Paid with one-month trial)
A really sleek and cute desktop Google search utility allowing to use multiple search services including: Google images, Google video, Google groups, Google Trends, Google Blogs as well as a lot of non-Google search engines including Amazon, Yahoo, StumbleUpon, etc.
It also allows to customize the look and fill as well as make it transparent:
SearchIt in Google
The least feature-rich of all. All it can do:
- Access either general search or Google Desktop;
- Set up a custom shortcut to quickly access it;
Note: The tools seems to use Internet Explorer (I didn’t manage to change the browser).
Be careful about Google toolbar, though. There are a LOT of cases where it won’t find something that is there, and I have a lot of videos to prove it. It’s free, but don’t trust it.
It would have been nice if you had listed what platforms each of your examples is available for (or at least have labelled the article: “4 Google Search Desktop Tools for Windows Compared”).