With all the buzz that went around about Google Desktop Search, I ended up a little bit disappointed in their offering. It has gotten better since I first took a peek at it, but I ended up finding an alternative desktop search tool by Copernic. I liked it so much, I ended up spending a decent chunk of change on their other products.
The copernic desktop search supports many more file types than Google originally did - I haven't checked back recently, but they had pdf support long before google did, and since I have a pretty large library of pdf files, this was a necessity for me. I also like the interface much better - it's a windows interface rather than a web page interface, and it gives you the ability to easily filter down to just emails, just images, just music files, or just regular files and even a few more options.
They also have a suite of products that I really enjoy as well, although I haven't used them nearly as much as I should - Copernic Agent Professional does keyword meta searching accross a number of different engines (over 160) allowing you to search specific areas - like news sites, computer programming sites, Government resources, etc. Copernic Summarizer actually slims down web pages and other documents into a shorter version giving you the highlights - perfect for browsing through a document collection or absorbing a large number of headlines. And then there's Copernic Tracker, which tracks changes to web pages allowing you to keep a close eye on your competition.
The desktop search is free. The other products are offered at various individual prices or bundled together at a discount. It's worth at least a trial install.
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