Google officially unveiled its new desktop search software Sunday night, taking it out of the beta stage and into official release. The software is designed to help users find e-mails, documents and files on their own hard drives. It will compete directly with Microsoft and Yahoo! software designed to do essentially the same thing.

The new Google search software can also find chat sessions and previously viewed web pages including PDF files and photographs.

The beta version of the new software was given a limited release last October. Now, the full version 1.0 is available for free download on the Google website.

There are security concerns with the new software including that non-authorized users can gain access to password protected websites. As a result, Google Desktop gives users the option whether or not to grant access to secure documents located on their computers.

Competition between Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! is expected to be intense as the search engine wars enter new territory. The outcome may help decide the future of the these three giant Internet companies.