Google has released a free downloadable desktop search tool that lets you add your hard drive to your Google Web searches. According to an article in today’s Washington Post, you’ll be able to enter a search term and see results from the Web and your desktop together. The search tool “not only indexes the full text of e-mail messages and word processing documents, but also gives people the option of creating a searchable archive of all Web pages they visit and all instant messages they send and receive with AOL software,” according to the article.

Danny Sullivan, editor of searchenginewatch.com, said the Google desktop search utility is “very, very good,” adding he was particularly fond of the ability to search content from the Web sites he’d visited.

Both Microsoft and Yahoo have been working on desktop search. Google’s release will be bad news for both.

Get the download at http://desktop.google.com. I’m going there now. I already use a $95 product called X1 for e-mail and file search. I’ll report back on how well the free Google tool works.