A basic search utility for files that are on your desktop computer, or to be precise, a search utility for files on your personal computer.

Pros: DD Desktop Search is a basic searching facility that searches your local hard drives for files that you are looking for. You can search by name, type, and more. It basically looks for files in the directory indexes, and then does a file by file search for non-indexed files. It does not have an initial setup phase because it is not dependent on a proprietary index search algorithm (such as Google Algorithm) and can directly use the Windows indexes. So no time is wasted on initial setup, plus there are fewer privacy concerns, because no information is being stored by DD Desktop Search.

Cons: There is no reason to pay for this kind of utility. The basic search capabilities available through windows do a pretty good job of searching for the files that you need. With Windows Vista, the search engine is even better, and its indexing makes the searches extremely fast (and easily faster than DD Desktop Search). If you are looking for some additional functions or advanced searching capabilities, go for one of the several downloaded solutions available on the internet such as Google Desktop. DD Desktop Search does not have a powerful enough search engine to justify its use ahead of those. On top of this, the interface is really bad, and you’ll have a hard time getting to the files that you are searching (i.e. opening them or executing them, once they show up in the search results).

Overall: 2 stars. In short, there is no point paying for this kind of utility. Windows does a fairly decent job, and if you desire additional functionality getting something like the Google Desktop. As such the search works well but has limited advanced searching options.