Wow, I’m downloading this right away! Google just released DeskBar, a component that sits in your Windows taskbar, allowing you to search from anywhere within Windows, even when your browser is closed.

It’ll be interesting to try it out, as I have my taskbar auto-hide and on the left side of the screen….here’s an article about it, and it can be downloaded here (see the screenshot as well). WARNING: it is still a ‘beta’ product, so do so at your own risk!

UPDATE: Wow, I really like it! Like I said, the only problem I have is my taskbar auto-hides, but it’s easy enough to hit the Windows key and go from there. Note that the installation requirements of Internet Explorer 5.5+ do not mean you have to use IE as your browser, just that DeskBar pry uses some of its APIs in the background. I can still use my Mozilla browser!

Also note that if you search for ‘Deskbar’ via Google itself, ironically Google gets one-upped, another similar tool comes up first in the search results! Wonder how long that’ll last…