Google is expanding the borders of its search empire into people's computers.
The net giant has released a preliminary version of a desktop program that will search computer hard drives, as well as the web.
"We think of this as the photographic memory of your computer," said Marissa Mayer, Google's director of consumer web products.
Others like Microsoft and Apple are planning similar search tools to find information buried in a hard drive.
Privacy issues
Search is becoming an increasingly competitive and lucrative arena.
Google is the leader in this area and the launch of a PC search tool is its latest attempt to become even more indispensable to its millions of users.
The desktop tool can be downloaded for free and lets people search e-mails in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express, as well as files in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and in plain text.
It also searches web pages viewed in Internet Explorer and instant messages in AOL Instant Messenger.
Google said the software was based on its internet search engine. It takes a while to index a PC hard drive, but after that the company says search results will appear in fractions of a second.
"It's pretty comprehensive," said Ms Mayer. "If there's anything you once saw on your computer screen, we think you should be able to find it again quickly."
Aware of the privacy concerns raised over its e-mail service, Google has sought to stress that the company will not be able to peer into people's hard drives.
"It's totally private," said the Google spokeswoman. "Google does not know what happens when the hard drive is searched."
Other desktop search programs are already available, from companies such as Enfish, X1, dtSearch and Blinkx.
But Google is the first well-known hi-tech brand to come out with a product.
Microsoft is aiming to release a PC search tool by the middle of next year, and others like Apple, AOL and Ask Jeeves are looking to come up with similar products.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3744228.stm