THE NEXT INVASION?
by Theresa Cahill 
Copyright 2004 - All Rights Reserved


After Microsoft's glitchy update to Service Pack 2
(which as of this writing I still have yet to
download), I prefer things to be out there and
bug fr'ee by the time I put them on my hard drive.

However, the latest and greatest appears to be Google's
attempt to "help you" find stuff online and inside 
your own hard drive. They are preparing to release 
a "desktop helper" program (maybe the beta is out
at the time of this writing?).

This program promises to search everything you've 
done and everywhere you've gone online, along with
everything you've stored on your computer. 

Their reasoning?

To make it "easier" for you to recall and retrieve 
obscure and not so obscure information (are the
alarm bells ringing for you yet?).

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Windows
(any variation) already have a full search capability? 
Redundant question because, of course, the answer 
is a resounding... Yes!

And your Windows search even hunts out all those 
stray places where you may have parked anything and 
everything yet forgotten where.

I am not an authority on this new "helper" tool of
Googles, far from it, but when I read a recent article 
this morning in the New York Times, bells began going 
off - fairly alarming ones at that.

I run no less than a solid firewall, an outstanding
antivirus program (Norton) and three (count 'em three) 
sp'yware programs.

Based on this I will tell you that whenever I break 
down and reinstall the Google search bar for even 
short amounts of time, my sp'yware detection programs 
go absolutely nuts!

On the opposite end of the scale, Yahoo's toolbar
rings no bells or whistles when scanned. Yahoo says it 
doesn't peek and snoop, and not being a programmer 
myself I do place a lot of stock in the returns and 
tri'ggers of all my "protect me and my computer" 
programs. I conclude for myself that Yahoo is indeed 
telling the truth. I use Yahoo's toolbar all the time. 
I like my privacy.

I'm betting dollars to donuts that letting Google 
have access to everything on and off your computer 
is going to be "interesting" if not downright 
alarming, and most computer users won't have a clue
or fully understand what they are allowing.

Heck, most computer users don't even run a proper 
vi'rus detection system and/or keep it updated on 
a weekly (or more often) basis.

While this latest "helper" may indeed turn out to
be the "next best thing since sliced bread," I'd
advise caution. Don't be one of the first to
rush out and get this, play it smart.

Giving access to any program (other than firewalls
and antivirus programs) to everything and every
area on your computer is flirting with danger
in my book.

[Remember... You've got to invite the vampire in 
willingly or he/she cannot come into your house - 
or computer in this case.] 

You'll have to decide for yourself. Me... I'm
most certainly waiting and IF I ever test it out
you can bet it's running through all three of
my sp'yware programs, along with a good Norton
virus scan first.

SEARCH is available under your START menu, and
your bookmarks and/or favorites folder plus
your history in the IE browser itself should be
more than sufficient (it's what we've all been
doing for a long, long time just fine) for the 
time being.

My advice? Let others be the guinea pigs of the 
world for you... if they must...


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Theresa Cahill is the owner of My Wizard Ads 
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