"Users of the Google Desktop Search software beware -- it indexes your files across all users on your PC , bypassing user protections. The Google cache feature allows all users to browse the contents of messages and files it has indexed, irrespective of who is logged in.
Google Desktop Search might just be too good. Using the new software , I was able to bypass user names and passwords that secure Web-based e-mail programs and view personal messages sent and received on public PCs.
Using Google's new software on a shared computer at the Google booth at the Digital Life trade show floor I was able to easily search for, find, and read private Yahoo e-mail sent on the computer by previous users earlier in the day.
To find old e-mail on the PC, I searched for "compose" and "inbox" using Google Desktop Search. This allowed me to view pages that Google Desktop Search had indexed. I was not able to access the query results directly, but Google Desktop Search stores cached versions of search results found on your desktop, just like it does for its Web searches. The cached versions of the pages could be viewed.
By accessing Google Desktop Search cached pages I could then easily access multiple Web-based e-mail accounts and view some of the messages that had been opened previously in the browser. Searching for "compose" yielded the most startling results. I was able to read private missives sent on the PC very easily.
On one computer alone I was able to access no less that 10 personal e-mails that had been sent using password-protected Web-based e-mail accounts.
