ABSTRACT
Introduction Search engines are amazing in their automation of the search process because they deliver the results of several complex and difficult system functions in less than a second consistently and with high quality. Like the dial tone always present when we pick up the phone, we take it for granted that in mere seconds we can execute a search and dive into results. Search engines like Google combine the spiders that crawl the web, applications that capture text and images, many servers that store billions of pages, indexing that allows instant retrieval, and algorithms to serve up references in the order most probably useful to the user. These are all wondrous functions. However, further automation is required to reduce the time needed for professional analysts to collect and present information quickly and simultaneously from many different search engines and websites where references are most likely to be found. When one looks for an automated Internet search tool, not many choices are found besides Internet search engines and intranet database-searching systems. Although in the broadest sense, Google is a tool, it is really a website offering a search service sponsored by commercials. Unfortunately, few good options for unadulterated desktop search software for the use of an investigator exist.1
