Uninstall Google Desktop in Ubuntu

Well, I’m bored of Google Desktop already since I upgraded to Hardy. The new Tracker in hardy is better integrated into the system. I got the instruction from Google Desktop Help Center.

To uninstall Google Desktop:

1. Open Terminal: Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
2. Enter:

sudo dpkg -r google-desktop-linux

3. Type in your password and hit Enter. You have uninstalled Google Desktop.

I am still trying to install Google Gadget. Check it out if you are interested. Pretty messy though.

Installing Google Desktop in Ubuntu

Last night, I was listening to Loaded on Cnet. Google Desktop is now working on linux. Google Gadgets is now working on Linux while Google Desktop has been on Linux for years. Google Desktop has never been my favorite gadget, but I still want to check it out. The installation process is super easy, there aren’t much to put here. But below is the tutorial anyway. There is a new tutorial on how to uninstall Google Desktop and I added that new section below too.

Install Google Desktop

1. Download your Google Desktop package here. For Ubuntu users, download the .deb package.
2. Double click on the .deb package, there will be an install button if you haven’t installed Google Desktop yet.
3. Click install. Then wait
4. Close the Package Installer window.
5. Your Google Desktop launcher is located at Applications -> Others -> Google Desktop.
6. And if you log out and log back in, the Google Desktop option will be right in your Applications.

Have fun, you must download the gadgets separately. Google Desktop only allow search index. I will post a tutorial on how to install Google Gadget; the steps are more troublesome than I expected.

Update: installing Google Gadgets is a pain in the a**. After 9 hours of trying, I finally gave up. For those of you who wanted to try, visit this page for an easy compilation or this page for detail installation. This is still in beta and there are numerous bugs, so it’s not for the faint of heart (is that even a right phrase in American English? oh well.)

Preferences

To access preferences, right click on the Google Desktop Icon. Your browser will open up to the Preferences page.

Problem: I just encountered a problem while trying to access Google Desktop Preferences. The Preferences windows will not appear. So to edit preferences for google desktop, you are going to do it manually with your web browser.

1. Open your internet browser, navigate to http://www.google.com
2. Chose more -> Desktop
3. Select Desktop Preferences
4. There you go, select your options.

Now, this is a way to work around this problem, it is not a good solution, if you know any other (better) way, please let me know.

Uninstall Google Desktop

To unistall Google Desktop:

1. Open Terminal: Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
2. Enter:

sudo dpkg -r google-desktop-linux

3. Type in your password and enter. You have uninstalled Google Desktop.