This software enhances the Google Desktop and Windows Search capabilities by enabling a custom Windows interface and extending file format accessibility. With added features like plugin management and customizable search options, users can optimize their search experience.
Enter Halftone Search from Trietech. It is an innovative Google Desktop add-on that can create advanced functionality for MS Windows users. One of the limitations of Google Desktop is its use of an HTML interface. While this is fine for the internet, it can be less user-friendly for local desktop applications. Halftone Search solves this problem by offering an alternative Google Toolbar UI that uses Windows native controls. With this add-on, you can customize fonts, highlight search terms in the results, and more.
Halftone Search offers multiple ways to search your computer. It includes a choice of a pop-up menu in the Windows tray, a form, or a dockable toolbar in the main program window. It also allows you to extract compressed files on-the-fly and shows their contents. In addition to its interface enhancements, Halftone Search extends the Google Desktop search engine itself.
Google Desktop relies on “drivers” or plugins to collect searchable data from your local files. Halftone Search installs drivers for compressed file archives (rar, zip, arj, tar, gz, bz2, etc.), chm files, MS Help v.2 files, plain-text files with unicode support, web archives (mht), and any drivers you may have installed by MSN Desktop Search. Furthermore, Halftone Search enables you to manage all the installed drivers.
In conclusion, Halftone Search is a must-have add-on for every Google Desktop user with a Windows powered PC. Its powerful features extend the functionality of Google Desktop, offering a better, more user-friendly experience for searching your local computer.
Version 1.5.0:
Tabbed interface (multiple search results)
Added shortcuts for quick access to search (Ctrl+F, Ctrl+Shift+F)
Improved user interface
Keyboard navigation on search form
Search type toolbar removed from restriction form
Saving settings in INI file
Auto-update on startup tur
Version 1.2.6:
Thumbnails view
Speed up of archives processing
Bug fixes
Version 1.2.5:
Thumbnails view
Speed up of archives processing
Bug fixes
Version 1.2.4:
Advanced queries: file type, location, date, web site, from/to/subject etc
Sorting in search result
chm files support
Preview for bmp, gif, jpg, png files
Search progress rewritten - now it's modeless
Search result displaying speed optimized
Minor bug fixes.
Version 1.2.3.1:
Preview pane in search shell
Shell context menu for items in search result
Additional search toolbar
Search using www.google.com
Auto-hide for panels in search shell
Auto-check for updates
Starting Google Desktop on search
Changed appearance of search result