17-25 Organize
The top performer in this young and fast-growing class is X1, developed by a small Pasadena, Calif., company and sold for $75 at x1.com. X1 excels at the number of file types that it scans: more than 225, from Adobe graphics to compressed Zips. X1 also displays file contents, making it easy to see your results. Best of all, it'll be free next month, when Web giant Yahoo! starts giving X1 away, though updated versions will still be sold at X1's site.
Choose me. Yahoo!'s seemingly altruistic act is actually a response to a threat posed by archrival Google, the king of Web search, in the battle for brand loyalty (not to mention potential ad revenue). Google has invented the Google Desktop Search, a clone of Google's online search engine. A "beta" or test version came out this fall; changes are planned, but it's deemed good enough for consumers to try. Also available free (at google.com ), desktop Google is as fast as Web Google but so far can search only about 10 of the most common file types, primarily those created by Web browsers and by Microsoft Office. The final version is sure to be more versatile, though Google isn't saying what else it might do or when it will be released.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has released a test version of its own desktop-rummaging software (downloadable at msn.com ), as has Ask Jeeves ( ask.com ), another Web search engine. America Online is said to be readying one, and Apple promises a good file finder in a system upgrade this spring. And since the programs are all free--so far--and most of them don't use much memory, you can load up several.
This burst of corporate generosity may mask a hidden agenda. Privacy advocates worry that the new desktop software could learn what's on your hard drive and post ads when you call up the program. Google execs, for one, say they have no such plans. Then again, Gmail, Google's free Web mail service, does openly take cues from your messages to serve up relevant ads.
Privacy concerns aside, X1 and competitors can only ease, not solve, data overload. The new PC search programs, for example, can't find a picture unless you've tied a name to the file, perhaps by renaming it or typing text into the file's Windows "properties" box (which few folks ever do). Likewise, none of the programs can find lyrics in an MP3 song (although some can find a file based on descriptive text that is automatically added when the files are created).
Of course, there are other ways to track down your PC's data. Some users carefully file E-mail, as well as digital documents and music. Others type all phone numbers in a text file. Those who do not trust electronica may record file names, passwords, and whatnot in a notebook. All these methods might be helpful. But once you try X1 or one of its rivals, you won't be able to remember how you got along without them.
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