Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
March 4, 2007
Volume 2, Number 38 — Sunday, March 4, 2007
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
3. Google Desktop - Free Software to Search Your Computer
Google Desktop is Google's free search system for your own hard drive. Google Desktop is designed to run all the time, but to do its real work — indexing your hard drive to get the information for its search results — while your computer is idle.
Tech Tip
Since Google Desktop only does its indexing while your computer is idle, you have to leave it running to get the best results. The initial indexing will probably require that you leave the computer running over night.
Your first step is to download and install the free Google Pack software package (the same one that includes Picasa). During this process, you select which optional programs you also want to download, if any. The program you'll download is the Google Updater, which handles the rest of the process. The Google Updater is also the program you use to control the Google Pack later, including adding additional programs or uninstalling some of them.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Click on the Run link in the Google Updater screen (you can also open Google Desktop via the Start Menu, if you prefer.)
During the initial startup process, you'll see the following screen for enabling (or disabling) advanced features.
Pay attention. As it says, "It's not the usual yada yada." The arrow indicates my choice.
(click on the image for a larger version)
You'll quickly see the Google Desktop screen — it will appear in your default Web Browser. In my case, my default web browser is Mozilla Firefox. You can also download Mozilla Firefox as part of downloading Google Pack, if you choose (it's optional).
Now, click on the Desktop Preferences link in the Google Desktop browser page.
(click on the image for a larger version)
In the next two images, we see the various Local Indexing options. I've picked the defaults with the exception of "Don't Search These Items" and "Remove Deleted Items" (which is unchecked by default).
 (click on the image for a larger version) |
 (click on the image for a larger version) |
Google Desktop is a free program that is available as part of the free collection of programs called Google Pack. With Google Pack, you can enjoy the easy, fast searching of your hard drive.
Get Google Desktop as part of the Free Google Pack
4. Setting the Default Web Browser
In last week's first article More Internet Explorer 7 Problems Reported, subscriber Valerie Mitchell was having problems with IE7 and one of its setup pages — a page that should only have appeared one time.
This week, she wrote back to say:
I ended up uninstalling IE7 and went back to IE6. But now I keep getting this problem on FireFox and IE6...Everytime I open these browsers or if I click on something in my favorites, I get this message: "This file does not have a program associated with it for perfoming this action. Create an association in Folder Options" It also keeps popping up even as I'm typing this email.
I tried following the instructions to fix this on the MS website, but I just don't get it. Could you explain it in simpler terms please or your own method of fixing this please. Also, I don't know how to enable ActiveX. Could you tell me how please?
Many thanx again.
v.mitchell
It sounds like IE7 was your default browser, but that when it uninstalled itself, it didn't turn IE6 back into the default (perhaps you had Firefox as the default before).
To make IE the default web browser:
- Start IE6
- On the menu bar, go to Tools, Internet Options.
- Click on the Programs tab and
- Put a checkmark in the box at the bottom that says "Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser." Click Apply and then OK
- Close IE6 and then open it again. At that point, IE6 will check to see if it is the default. It will either make itself the default at that time or it will as you if you want it to be the default.
To make Firefox the default web browser:
- Start Firefox
- On the menu bar, go to Tools, Options
- The default tab is Main, which is the one you want. At the bottom, in the section System Defaults, you will find a checkbox labelled "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup." Put a checkmark in that checkbox. (Startup, in this case, means the startup of Firefox, not of Windows.)
- If you want to make Firefox your default right now, click on the adjacent button that says "Check now"
- Then, click OK
I thought this would be the end of the problem, but Valerie wrote back to say that she didn't have the "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup" checkbox." At this point, I think she needs a clean install of Firefox.
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Volume 2, Number 38 — Sunday, March 4, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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