Quick Search Box: A New Feature For Google Desktop Search
via the Google Blog -
Quick Search BoxNew!
The Quick Search Box located in the center of your desktop enables you to search the web and your local computer as quickly as possible. You can simply press Ctrl twice to call up this search box at any time, and press Ctrl twice again to hide it. If you don’t want to use the Quick Search Box at all, you can disable it on the Google Desktop preferences page.
