Better Outlook searching
Sure, Google Desktop Search is a better alternative to the grinding search of Outlook death. But it can't index offline PST files, meaning you have to keep all those archives open at all times. Thankfully, there is a better way.
Ever found yourself hunting for an email in Outlook using the painfully slow Search function or the ghastly Advanced Find tool? Your hard drive grinds away, whilst you watch longingly at the spinning magnifying glass hoping you spelt the query right and not wasted the last 10 minutes whilst your client waits eagerly on the phone for an answer.
Those of us who have moved into the modern age have employed the horde of handy desktop search tools that have showed up over the past few years like ISYS:desktop, Copernic desktop search (my personal favourite), Google Desktop, and Windows Desktop Search (previously MSN Desktop Search). However, my main gripe with that is whilst I run backup software to protect my precious PST files, it can't access them even when Outlook is closed because the search software is forever indexing my emails with them.
That's when I stumbled across Microsoft's office tool, Lookout. This tiny app acts as a plugin for Outlook, neatly integrating itself into the interface and providing a speedy search function from within Outlook... finally! So impressed was I with this little tool, I included it on our July 2006 issue cover DVD.
Also worth a mention is another dinky little program called Locate32. Like most other search apps, it creates an index of file names and attributes on your computer (and mapped network drives) and lets you quickly hunt down files by name, extension, filesize and date. When not in use, it sits quietly in your system tray awaiting the next panicked rush for a file whilst a client or boss is on the phone.
