G-Wind

G-Wind is a practical tool that comes in the form of a search bar that uses Google as the main search engine to read your messages, watch clips, check the weather, and much more. It also features a basic web browser.

In order for the app to be installed Adobe AIR has to be present on the computer, while the setup requires minimal effort from your side. The interface consists of a search bar and a "Google" button, that when pressed brings a drop-down menu, where you can choose the desired feature or service.

Among them, you can find almost all functions offered by Google, such as Gmail, News, Image Search, Maps, Books, Trends, Reader, and Translate. Other useful options you may pick are Picasa, Youtube, Knol, Weather, Time, and Orkut.

Each feature is opened in the built-in web browser, which brings a slick and self-explanatory layout, with only back and next arrows, as well as stop, reload, and new tab. In addition to its lightweight look, it would've been nice if it came with a bookmark and browse history functions, to save favorite pages, and delete old surfing sessions.

For the time, weather, and maps, you have to input your current location for an accurate result. What's more, you can conduct an advanced search, by entering one or more words, the exact phrase, the beginning or ending of a term, along with excluded words.

It's possible to mark some extra parameters, such as page linking, domain, file extension, the number of results, and months ago. Each of those items can be searched only in the URL, page title and text, or none of them.

G-Wind is an entertaining and reliable application designed to ease the work of looking for something on the Internet, read your news, check your emails, time, and weather, using Google as the search engine.